In Another World
by mustlovejosh
Summary: What Happens when Katniss Everdeen leaves District 13 and has to move to District 12? She hates it at first, but quickly takes a liking to the school football player, Peeta Mellark. Rated M for language and other stuff..
1. District 12

I already missed District 13 to much, being here only five days made it even harder to start school. Butterflies were filling my stomach, I was clutching the lunch my father had given me tightly in my hand, while in the other, I was holding tightly to my backpack strap.

People were crowded around the school, pushing each other around like rag dolls. If my mother saw how high school really was, she'd force me to be home schooled again. I shake the thought out of my mind and try to squeeze through the people that were blocking the entrance to class. I slip into a seat, watching people yell to one another across the room, while others are either fixing their hair or blasting their music.

I turn my attention to the door at which a tall blond comes inside. He is built, unlike half the guys I have ran into today. His eyes are a bright clear blue that I'm sure gets him tons of girls. He smiles at a few of his friends who run over to meet him, giving him fist pumps and those weird hugs guys give one another.

"How do you do your hair like that?" Someone asks from behind me, lifting my hair from my shoulder. I turn to see a boy, maybe sixteen, admiring my braid. He looks up at me, a smile coming across his face.

"My mother did it," I explain. "It's pretty much the only way I will wear it."

He laughs at this, laying my hair back where it was. "It's beautiful," he says, holding out his hand. "I'm Cinna, are you new here?"

I accept his hand, shaking it quickly before pulling away. "Katniss Everdeen," I say. "Yes, I'm new here. I used to live in 13, but my dad got a mining job here and we moved."

"District 13, huh?" asks someone beside me. I turn to see a girl with short spicky brown hair, her eyes were glued to her nails as she flicked some polish off each finger. "I'm Johanna Mason, my dad used to work in 7 but we got moved about a year ago."

"Oh, do you like it here?" I ask, looking around at all of the kids. Johanna, Cinna and I were pretty much the only people sitting down. I can't imagine how anyone could like this place.

Johanna shrugs, looking up at me for the first time. "It's okay," she says. "I don't think anyone really _likes_ it here, I mean, who likes school?"

"I'm pretty sure Peeta likes school," a girl cuts in, coming to sit down beside me. Johanna nods, a laugh escaping her. "I'm Madge," she says, staring down at her notebook, pulling stuff out and setting it on her desk.

"Madge's daddy is the Mayor," says Johanna, sticking out her tongue. Madge had long blond hair and wore a long pink dress that touched her feet, her blue eyes skipped around the paper in her hand as she quickly read it before facing me with a smile.

"Have you met Gale, yet?" asks Madge tilting her head to the side. I shake my head and she gasps as if it's the most unheard thing in all of District 12.

In the corner of my eye, I can see Cinna shaking his head at her. "That's her boyfriend," he says. "She expects everyone to know him. He is one of the most known guys at school, that's the only reason she was surprised."

Johanna nods as he speaks. "I don't like him," she whispers to me, her eyes growing dark. "He is one of the most known guys in school but also one of the most hated." Cinna laughs, scribbling some things down on a piece of paper.

Johanna turns back to face the front of the classroom. I lean back in my chair and get my phone out of my bag, trying my best to hide it under my desk. I hit compose a message and stare at my keyboard, trying to figure out what to say.

_Dear Aunt Mags,_

_District 12 is pretty good so far...I kinda just want this year to end. I've met a few people today already. Cinna, Johanna, and Madge. They are nice and I think I might grow to be friends with them. Well, I will see you soon...Bye. _

_Love,_

_Katniss._

"Texting in class are we?" A deep voice asks me. I turn to find the boy from earlier, staring down at my phone with a smile. His blue eyes try to read my message before I shut my phone and stuff it into my pocket.

"I don't think you should be reading strangers messages," I say squinting my eyes at him. He laughs at me, taking a seat in the empty desk behind me. He runs a hand through his blond hair, throwing his binder on the desk.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't be strangers," He holds his hand out to me. "I'm Peeta Mellark, my father owns the cafe in town and I go to this school. I'm sixteen and have two brothers. Your turn."

I stare at his hand, not taking it, just staring at it. "I'm Katniss Everdeen, my father works in the mines and I also go to this school," Peeta laughs. "I'm sixteen and have a sister named Prim."

"It's nice to meet you, Katniss," says Peeta with a smile. "I think you should stop by the cafe sometime, you'd like it."

I laugh and lean on my elbow, laying my head in my palm. "Are you asking me on a date, Peeta Mellark?" I say, lifting an eyebrow at him.

He chuckles, leaning back in his chair, shrugging his shoulders. "If that's what you wanna call it, then yes," he says. "But no, I wasn't asking you on a date. You will for sure know when I'm asking you out. But Katniss, we don't know each other yet so I doubt I will ask you out anytime soon."

I roll my eyes at him, turning my head in the direction of Cinna who is laughing at us. He looks at me and covers the side of his mouth with his hand. "He likes you!" He mouths to me.

Before I can say anything else, the teacher walks into the room, writing some sloppy words onto the chalk board. _Mr. Haymitch Abernathy._ He turns towards his desk and slams a flask down on the wood, staring at all of the people standing. "Sit down!" He shouts, pointing towards all of them. They all flee to an empty seat.

I look over at Peeta who has his feet propped up on the basket that hangs at the bottom of the chair that's connected to the desk. He looks over at me, sending me a smile. I again roll my eyes and lock my attention back to the teacher. "Mellark!" yells Mr. Abernathy, waving him over. Peeta smirks, walking over to the loud teacher.

He whispers something in Peeta's ear, pointing around the room. Peeta laughs and stands straight up, looking at me. "Haymitch says that Prom is this week and you have to have a date," says Peeta. "If your a football player, that is."

Johanna laughs at this. "That's so stupid!" she shouts at him. "What does that mean? Finnick has to take Annie to the Prom even if he doesn't want to?" Someone stands across the room, I am assuming it is Finnick. "I am taking Annie to the Prom?" he says.

"All right, sit down!" says Mr. Abernathy. "I'm talking about how you need a date to get inside the dance, Principal Snow's new rules."

"That's so unfair!" I small girl complains, her brown hair in a side pony tail. "Cato is going to ask out Glimmer so I'll have to go with Marvel!" The class busts out laughing and she sends them all death glares.

"Shut up and sit down, Clove!" says Mr. Abernathy. "I'm sorry you can't go to the dance with, Cato. He's a bad kid anyway, you don't need to be involved with that, you're failing as it is." Her face grows cherry red and she sinks back down in her seat.

"Peeta is going to ask Delly isn't he?" I tall boy that gave Peeta a fist pump earlier asks. The class applauds, some even standing and clapping for the couple.

"No," says Peeta, shaking his head. "I don't like Delly." For the rest of the class, I listen to everyone scream about who they are taking and who they aren't. When the bell rings, I practically run out the door, hurrying to get to my next class.

Right as I'm about to enter History, someone pulls me into the janitors closet, slamming the door behind them. They turn on the light and I jump in surprise when I see Peeta leaning up against the wall. "Ugh, what do you want?" I ask with a sigh of relief.

He smiles, pointing towards the latter attached to the wall. "I wanted to show you something," he says. "No one else has bothered to come up here, I thought you'd like to know about it."

I walk over to it and look up to where it leads. "What's up there?" I ask. I can feel him behind me, he is too close for my comfort.

"The roof," he whispers, pushing me lightly towards the latter. "Hurry up and climb. We don't want to get caught. If we do, you'll be the one who gets in trouble, not me."

I start climbing, looking down at him. "Oh? And why is that?" I ask him.

"Well, Haymitch is the football coach," he says. "He will talk Principal Snow into letting me go. I don't think anyone will be there for you, Katniss...Well, I might be since I got you into it and all."

I don't reply, Instead I keep climbing. I reach this doorway that I'm hoping leads to the roof. "Peeta, do I need to open this door?" I ask, looking down at him.

He looks up and nods. "Yes." he says. I push it open, sending a blinding light into my eyes, causing me to squint. I step onto green grass and see an over look of town. I now started to wonder why no one came up here, it was beautiful, something everyone would love. Peeta shuts the door, coming to stand beside me. "Do you like it?"

I can't speak, so I simply nod my head. Peeta leans up on the railing and looks over at me. "What are you scared of?" he asks.

I look over at him, lifting an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"What is your biggest fear?" says Peeta, scooting closer to me. "We have to get to know each other, remember?"

"I guess it's losing everyone that I love," I barely whisper, staring out at the blinding sun. "That terrifies me to the core. Losing all that I'm staying alive for, it's my biggest fear." If possible, Peeta's eyes grow a small bit bluer. He offers me a sad smile, tugging at the end of my braid.

"Mine is never marrying," he says, laying his head in his hands as if he is ashamed of it. "Or never having children, I know it's weird, but that's my fear."

"I don't think you should be scared of that," I say. "You're going to get married, Peeta. It's only my first day here and I can already see every girl fainting when they see you."

Peeta chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I wanted to ask you something, Katniss," He says, staring at his hands. "You'll probably say no.."

"You'll never know unless you ask," I point out with a smile. I didn't know what he was going to ask, but, something inside of me wanted it to be about Prom, it wanted him to ask me. I bite my bottom lip as I wait for him to speak.

"It's about the cafe," he says. "I wanted to know if you could..um..work there? We'd pay you. We just need more employees. Right now all we have is Glimmer, Clove, Johanna, Annie, and Marvel. Oh, and Cato comes in every once in a while. Plus Finnick helps out when it's needed, but if your there he won't need to."

I stand silent for a moment, trying the think this through. He was nervous to ask me about working at his fathers cafe, not about asking me to Prom? I rub my forehead and give him a small smile. "I'll work there," I say. "When do I start?"

A huge smile overtakes his face. "Thursday," he says. "If that's alright with you, I mean."

I laugh, still in a bit of shock. "It's fine, It's not like I have anything better to do," I say. "So, who are Glimmer, Clove, Foxface, Cato and Marvel?" Peeta laughs to himself, probably picturing them in his mind.

"Glimmer isn't the nicest person in the world let me tell you that," says Peeta, scooting closer to me. "But don't worry, I will get my dad to give you the same work days as Johanna and I, so you will at least know somebody."

* * *

When the week finally gets to Thursday, Johanna and I walk to the cafe after school, ready to start work. "Glimmer is a bitch," she warns, kicking a rock in front of her. "Just wanted you to know. This one time, she tripped me when I was walking over to hand these customers their food. I stood up, coke and hamburger shit all over me, and punched her square in the nose," I can't help but laugh at this. "I broke her nose so, Mr. Mellark had no choice but to suspend me."

"Do you think she will do something like that to me?" I ask, watching a few people enter the cafe. "It's my first day and she might think she can torment me." Johanna laughs at me, shaking her head, some of her spikes falling out of place.

"Glimmer isn't working tonight," she assures, nodding towards a built blond boy that's walking inside the cafe. "Cato and Marvel are though, and I think Finnick and Annie might be too."

I let out a sigh of relief, throwing my hair up into a messy pony tail. "How are the customers here?" I ask, looking around the empty street. "Do I need to spit in anyone's food?" Johanna lets out a loud laugh, causing me to laugh along with her. My Aunt Mags had always told me that if one day I worked as a waitress and someone treated me wrong, I needed to spit in their food. My dad would tell me that Mags got fired from about ten jobs for doing that.

"I have only spit in one persons food," says Johanna. "And that was Gale. He cheated on Madge this one time with Glimmer. So, while they were sharing some fries, they asked me to get them a cheese burger, and you can put the pieces together." I laugh at her, thinking of how nasty it would be to eat someone else's spit. Ew.

"Get ready," she says, pushing the cafe door open, revealing all of the loud customers. The first person I see when I walk in is Peeta, he is carrying a couple drinks to Madge who is sitting with some guy I hadn't seen before. Johanna hands me an apron with a name attached to it that read, _Katniss._Finally, Peeta looks over at me, a smile washing over his face.

"We're here, Peeta," shouts Johanna, grabbing a few notepads, handing me one.

"I can see that," says Peeta, taking one from her. "Katniss, can you do me a favor and get the table with Madge and Gale? I will get Annie to show you how to take orders, she is a huge help and an amazing teacher, trust me." I nod and let him drag me over to a dark head girl, about my age, who's name is Annie.

"Annie, this is Katniss," explains Peeta, motioning towards me. "I need you to do my a favor and mentor her, show her how to take orders and all that fun stuff."

Annie chuckles, holding out her hand to me. "It's not as fun as Peeta makes it seem, trust me," she says, shaking my hand. "The customers we get here aren't the nicest people in District 12, I can promise you that, but, Mr. Mellark always warns us to keep a smile on our face."

"Exactly," says Peeta, patting me on the back. "I will meet up with you later, Katniss. Have fun." And with that he is lost in a sea of people.

Annie stares at the front door, as if she is waiting for someone to come inside, Finnick maybe. "Which table did Peeta say you had to do first?" she asks, taking the notepad from my hands.

"Umm...Madge and Gale, I think," I say, pointing towards their table in the back of the room. Annie turns towards them, a mad expression coming across her face. "Don't like Gale either do you?"

She turns towards me, a small smile spreading across her lips. "He isn't the nicest person in the world," says Annie, running a hand through her hair. "He is kind of self obsessed. But, I shouldn't be talking, Finnick pretty much is too but I'm completely in love with him."

We walk over to Madge's table, smiles on our faces like Mr. Mellark said we should do. "What can I get for you today?" asks Annie, staring only at Madge. I guess it helps to not look at Gale, actually, not send him any kind of attention is what Annie is doing.

"Who is this?" asks Gale, looking me over. For some odd reason, I feel uncomfortable around him. Annie shoots him a glare, biting on the end of her pen. _Don't blow, Annie, he isn't worth it. _

"Katniss Everdeen," I explain with a forced smile. "I just moved here from District 13 a few days ago." Madge smiles at me as her eyes scan through the menu.

"Well, nice to meet you, Katniss Everdeen, from District 13," he says. "I'm Gale Hawthorne, I'm from here orginally, but once my family moved to 2, but we came back, hard to leave a place like District 12 after you've lived here your whole life."

"Seems like it," I say through clenched teeth.

Annie clears her throat loudly, staring daggers at Gale. "What can I get you?" she spits at him, her hand clinched around her pen.

"I want a burger, no cheese, with mustard and that's all," says Madge, handing me her menu. "It's nice to see you, Katniss. I hope you like working here, I bet it's fun."

I give her a small smile before grabbing the menu out of Gale's tight grip. "Do you want anything, Hawthorne?" asks Annie, pointing towards the menu.

"Nope, I'm fine," he says, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Great, I wasn't going to get you anything anyways," she whispers loud enough for only me to hear, stomping away from the table. I follow her and lay the menu's in their holders, turning to pin the order on the cooks board. "God, I hate him! If only Finn were here, That'd make me feel so much better."

"Ran into Gale, huh?" A voice asks from behind me, their hands pinning an order to the board. I turn all the way around to find Cato and a guy with brown hair looking over at Annie.

"Yes. If Katniss weren't there, I think I might have killed him," she says, clearing a few plates from the bar. Cato's eyes land on me and he smiles, holding out a hand. that seemed to be what everyone did around here.

"I'm Cato," he says, motioning towards his friend. "That's Marvel. You're Katniss, right?"

I take his hand and smile. "Right," I say. "Hey, aren't you going to Prom with Glimmer?" Marvel laughs hitting Cato hard on the back.

"I think I might like you, Katniss," says Marvel. "You need to tell us everything that Glimmer says, she makes up lies and the others refuse to tell us. So Katniss, you're our new spy, all right?"

I chuckle and go follow Annie. "All right," I yell over my shoulder before going to my next table.

Johanna flops into a booth when the cafe is closed. "Thank Goodness it's through!" she shouts, rubbing her temples. "I about beat some kid who wouldn't pay for his food. Peeta, you're lucky you were there or I would have got him sent to the hospital."

Peeta laughs, cleaning off some booths. "How was your first day, Katniss," he asks, looking over his shoulder at me.

"Pretty good," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "I expected it to be worse than this."

We all get done clearing up. Johanna rides home with Cato and Marvel while Annie catches a ride with Finnick, who showed up after closing time ready to work. That leaves only Peeta and I at the cafe. I sit around the bar, twirling around in my chair. Peeta sits beside me, flipping through a furniture magazine. "What do you think, should we get this chair in the cafe?" He points towards a picture of a large pink chair that's in the shape of a hand.

"That's so tacky, Peeta!" I say, laughing at his taste. "I am going to feel so bad for your poor wife!"

He laughs at me, closing the magazine and throwing it in his open backpack. "What if you and me get married, Katniss?" he asks with a smile. "Will you feel bad for yourself?"

"I will probably be happy," I say. "I mean, if I marry you, that means you'll have to make me happy, right?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "What if I don't make you happy, what if I make you sad and you still marry me?" says Peeta. "Would you feel bad for yourself?"

I open my mouth to speak but am cut off by the ring of the bell above the door. "Hello," says a tall blond man wearing a Mellark Cafe t-shirt. He walks over to Peeta with a smile. "Can you lock up for me tonight, son? I'm taking your mother out to dinner."

"Sure," he says, fishing the keys out of his pocket. "Oh, by the way this is, Katniss, she works here now."

"Hey Katniss," says Mr. Mellark. "I'm Mark Mellark, but you of course, can just call me Mark."

I smile at him. He was pretty much just like Peeta, same eyes, same hair, and definatly the same breathtaking smile. "It's nice to meet you," I say. "Your cafe is amazing, I'm happy to work here."

He smiles at me and looks at his watch. "If I don't get going now I'll be late," he says, giving me a quick pat on the back. "It was nice meeting you, Katniss, I hope to see you here more often! Bye Peeta, I'll see you at home." He gives us one last wave before disappearing into the darkness outside.

I turn to Peeta with a smile. He is fidgeting with a small football that hangs on his key chain. "What number are you on the football team?" I ask Peeta, kicking him in the leg.

He turns to me with a smile, lightly kicking me back. "Number five," he says with a wink. "That's my lucky number and the age I started playing football, What's your lucky number?"

"This is weird, but mine is twenty-two," I say, biting my bottom lip. "My sister Prim was born at 5:22 in the morning, we have a small connection, Peeta Mellark."

He looks at the clock hanging on the wall above us and stands up. "Do you need a ride home, Katniss?" he asks, grabbing the keys off of the table.

It was late at night and I truly didn't want to be walking down the streets alone. So, I nod my head and follow him out the front door, he turns to lock the door and I walk over to his car. It's a large jeep with four doors, It was a car I had wanted forever. "Hop on in, Katniss," he yells to me. "It's unlocked."

I open the door and slip into the all black car that smelled brandnew. I watch Peeta climb in, sending me a smile before starting it up. "So, do you think you'll do any sports this year?" asks Peeta, sending me a quick glance.

I shake my head, I wasn't really good at anything but hunting. I doubt they had a hunting class at school. "I'm not really good a sports," I explain, leaning back into the heated seats of the car. "I'm good at hunting but I don't think they have hunting stuff at school."

Peeta smiles. "Actually, they do," he says. "Gale Hawthorne mentors it, he is an amazing hunter, maybe if you need help he can teach you a few things."

I lift an eyebrow at Peeta, He actually liked Gale while everyone else in the world hated his guts. "Are you friends with, Gale?" I ask.

Peeta agian smiles at me. "Yeah, he is actually one of my best friends," he says. "When he started dating Madge we became closer, I kind of thought you knew we were friends?"

"Nope, not until today," I say, staring down at my hands. "But, it seems like everyone hates him. Or at least just Johanna and Annie." Peeta chuckles, keeping his eyes glued to the road.

"He did cheat on Madge once," says Peeta. "But that was when we were thirteen, they need to let it go." I nod my head, it wasn't their relationship to have a reason to be angry at Gale. They actually had no right to hate him, he had done nothing.

Peeta pulls his car to a long stop and I hop out, waving him a quick goodbye. "Katniss!" he yells after me. "I think we should hang out sometime, if you want."

I smile at him and nod my head. "I'd love to, Peeta!" I shout back, opening the door to my house. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Peeta waves at me one last time before turning his car around and heading back home.

* * *

**Hello Everyone! I was sitting in my room and this started pouring out of me, I was thinking about the movie Mean Girls and I wanted to know if y'all wanted me to have Glimmer, Clove, and Foxface as the Mean Girls? Review Please! And FYI The Characters are OOC because this is NOT The Hunger Games, it's in another world. Tell me what you think of this..should I continue or no? Review!**


	2. Date

**I'd like to thank all of you who Alerted, Favorited, and Reviewed! My answers to your review questions are below!(: Here is Chapter 2! Review!**

**ShelbyBells**: Yes, Katniss is very friendly in this fanfic(: She has her father and that is a huge part in why she is so friendly.

**Aloha-Pinkly**: Here is your update(:

**book geek29812**: I will keep going because of all of y'all who are reviewing! Thank you so much!(:

**mrsmellark-horan**: (It wouldn't let me put the period between mrs and mellark -_-) I am going to do the Mean Girl thing in the next chapter for Prom, so get ready! And You'll have to keep reading to see if Katniss and Peeta end up together. :)

**claire**: I'm continuing(:

**swiftie4X**: Thank you! I thought I would give Katniss a happy personality since there were no Games and her father didn't die. (:

**HELLO2-4**: Hahaha! This is a peeniss story, I promise! How could I not make it a peeniss story? (:

**Mojo333**: Thank you! And, I wasn't sure If I should keep them mean, I'm happy to hear your opinion on it!(:

**Meldamaz**: Thank you!(: I'm so glad you like it!

* * *

I sit in History class, sending Peeta a small glace every once in awhile. He is seated in the back row, staring out the window behind him. The teacher hasn't bothered to call his name any throughout the class period, she knows he isn't listening. I'm not the only girl who keeps staring at Peeta, though. I catch a blond girl that is dressed in all pink, sending him a few stares herself, along with half the girls in the classroom.

The teacher is talking about the Civil War, about how it all got started and such. Johanna had gotten moved to the front of the classroom because she'd been talking to Cato to much. Now all the teacher does is call her name, making sure it's a question Johanna will get wrong. "Miss. Mason, Do you know when the war first started?" asks Ms. Adams, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Yes ma'am, it started in 1861," says Johanna proudly. The class stares at her in shock, she had actually listened. Ms. Adam's rolls her eyes and begins talking about Columbus.

The bell rings and Johanna grabs my arm, pulling me towards her locker. "That bitch Ms. Adam's should have know I was listening," she says sharply, sending the classroom an angry glare. "Gosh, why doesn't she just call on, Peeta? He doesn't listen! She could get a lot of fun out of him."

"Maybe because I look like I'm listening, Johanna," says Peeta from behind me. "Maybe I can teach you how to do it, if you'll actually listen to me, that is." I bite my bottom lip to keep from laughing. Johanna tilts her head to the side, squinting her eyes at Peeta.

"What do you even want, Mellark?" she asks, opening up her locker. "I sure as hell don't want to talk to you, I think its pretty obvious, so why don't you just go get tackled by a few of your football mates?" Peeta laughs at her, leaning up against a few lockers to get on her nerves.

"I actually wanted to talk to, Katniss," he says, looking at me with a smile. "It just so happened that you were with her, if you can't tell, I don't really want to talk to you either, I'm just to good of a person to let it show on my face."

Johanna lets out a fake laugh, slamming her locker closed. "Then I will leave you two," she says, winking at me. I watch her disappear into her next classroom before I turn to Peeta.

"Hey," I say with a smile. "What can I do for you?" I think I had gotten used to being a waitress already.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you," he said, pointing behind him at the janitor's closet. "On the roof?" I nod my head, letting him lead me up the latter, onto the roof of the school.

I take a seat on the dark green grass, feeling how soft it was under my hands. Peeta takes a seat beside me, staring out at the sun, a smile playing on his lips. "Haymitch actually showed me this," he explains, holding his arms out. "It was my first year of football, I was doing poorly, as he said. So, when I was out at the field alone, he pulled me up here and said that I needed to clear my mind, that this was the place that would help me do so."

I smile at this new information, Haymitch actually wanted to help someone. Or maybe it was just to help his football team. Either way, he did a good thing, this place was beautiful. "What was on your mind that you needed to clear?" I ask, looking over at him. His eyes drop to his hands as he trys to answer my question.

"Well, I had just broken up with my girlfriend," says Peeta. "She cheated on me, I kind of couldn't get over it. I wasn't exactly in love with her, but I was getting there. That's why it hurt so bad. She didn't care about me enough to think about my feelings, to think how being cheated on would feel." For some reason, this was hard hearing. I had never got cheated on, probably because I never really had a boyfriend, or at least, not one I was starting to fall for.

"What's her name?" I ask, scooting closer to him. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I am just curious."

He runs a hand through his golden hair, closing his eyes. "Her name is Glimmer," he says. "Like I said a few days ago, she isn't the nicest person in the world. That is why I have different days at the cafe then her, that's why I tried to match up your days with mine, I don't want her messing with you. Johanna has already had to deal with her most of her life, that's why they share days."

I pull my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around them. "So, even though she hurt you, you still let her work at the cafe?" I say, lifting an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound right, Peeta."

"I didn't hire her," he explains. "My father did, I couldn't tell him what happened, we couldn't lose an employee because of me, It wouldn't be fair to the customers."

I nod my head, pretending I understand where he is coming from, when I truly don't. If someone had cheated on me and they worked for my father, I would have told him I was uncomfortable with it, I don't understand why Peeta didn't. "So, Prom's tomorrow," I say with a sigh. "Principal Snow will probably give me detention since I'm not going, did you ask Delly?"

Peeta turns towards me, shaking his head. "Uh, I kind of brought you up here to ask you about that, Katniss," he says, staring down at my hands. "Do you want to go with, Cato? He asked me to ask you for him, he really likes you."

Shock washes over my face and I'm hoping Peeta can't see it. "Sure," I say with a smile. "Tell him I'd love to go, but just a friends..."

Peeta smiles at me, standing and walking over to the railing. I hadn't expected that at all, Cato liking me? It was beyond strange. Everyone had said Cato was going to ask Glimmer, turns out everyone is wrong and that I shouldn't be listening to them.

* * *

"So, you got asked to the dance by, Cato?" asks Johanna, walking with me to work. I nod. "What the hell? There has to be something going on here, Cato just doesn't ask anyone out. Damn Katniss, I bet every girl at school would kill to be you right now."

I laugh, rubbing my hands together. I had forgotten my gloves at home and it was freezing outside, the roof wasn't cold at all though, probably because I was up their with Peeta. "I'd kill to be any other girl right now," I say, staring at the cafe. "I was actually hoping Peeta would ask me, I guess the world isn't going to give me good luck."

Johanna stares at me as if I had killed someone, her eyes are wide and a smile is creeping on her lips. "You're kidding, right?" she asks, a laugh escaping her. "You like Peeta Mellark? I'm sorry to tell you this, but you and every other female on the planet, except for me, want Peeta Mellark."

I open the door to the cafe and sigh. "I already know that, Johanna," I say, rolling my eyes. "It's pretty obvious that everyone loves him, that's why he didn't ask me to Prom, he is taking someone else. Oh, and you know what I don't get? We are sixteen, why are we going to Prom?"

"You're sixteen. Cato, me, Delly, Glimmer, Marvel, Finnick, and Annie aren't," she says. "That is why we are going, you just got asked by a senior, don't you think that's why Peeta didn't ask you?" She slips her apron around her neck, tightening it up in the back. "Oh, and Gale is a senior, that's why Madge is going."

"Of course," I say with a sigh. I walk over to a table of people to take their orders, when Cato comes over to me, a smile playing on his lips. I stick the pen that I'm holding behind my ear and walk over to the jolly boy.

"So, Mellark tells me you said yes," he says, running a hand through his spiky hair, obviously trying to distract me. I nod. "Well, what time do I need to pick you up? We can ride with Delly and Peeta if you want, or Glimmer and Marvel." I had only met Cato once and already we were going to Prom together, well, his Prom, not mine.

"Delly and Peeta would be fine," I say, nodding my head and biting my nails. "I don't really care, it's what you want to do, after all, my Prom is in two years, you need to enjoy yours." He smiles, making it hard to concentrate on what he says next. I hadn't noticed how good looking he actually was, Peeta beat him by a long shot, but Cato was still very attractive.

"Katniss?" he says, breaking my train of thought. "Did you hear what I just said?"

"Huh? Uh, no..I'm sorry I was thinking about something," I say, turning an embarrassing shade of red. He laughs, his sea blue eyes watching me closely as he says his next words, I can tell he is serious.

"What color is your dress?" says Cato. "I need to pick out a tie and I think we'd look better together if it matched, don't you?" I bring my bottom lip in between my teeth, trying to keep myself from saying what was trying to get out. I hadn't picked out a dress yet since, originally, I wasn't going to Prom. I don't think Cato would take that in a good way though since Prom is, well, tomorrow.

I smile at him, removing the pen from behind my ear and writing my phone number on the notepad in my hand. "Call me tonight," I say, stuffing it in his shirt pocket. "I will tell you all about what I'm wearing, all right?"

He nods and walks off to get back to work. I turn and find Cinna and a girl seated at a table, reading through the menu. "Hey, what can I get for you?" I ask, looking at the girl, trying to figure out who she was.

Cinna looks up at me, a huge smile stretching across his face. "Hello Katniss," he says, giving me a small wave. He looks over at the girl, holding out his hand to her. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Portia."

She smiles, also sending me a wave. "Nice to meet you, Katniss," says Portia, flipping some of her blond curly hair out of her face. "I have heard so much about you!" Her nails catch my eye, they were incredibly long and a very strange gold color. She also had this weird accent, I'm assuming she is from the Capital since no one else around here spoke like that.

"It's nice to meet you, too," I say, nervously scratching the back of my neck, I was starting to turn into Peeta. "Are you two hungry?" Cinna lifts up the menu, laying it in my arms. Portia does the same, telling me what she would like.

"All right, I will be right back with your drinks," I say, walking over to post their orders to the board. I watch Cinna take both of Portia's hands into his, a very noticeable smile almost reaching his ears. I start to wonder if I'm the only one that didn't know he had a girlfriend, it came as sort of a shock that I hadn't seen her around school.

"Katniss?" I see a hand cross through my vision before I see Peeta. "Hey, what are you looking at?" he asks, turning to see where my eyes were locked. He smiles when he notices, rubbing his hands together. "Cinna and Portia, huh? You just meet her?"

I nod. "I didn't know he had a girlfriend," I say, cleaning off some plates that lay on the bar. "I haven't seen her at school, have you?"

"That's because she doesn't go to our school," he points out, taking the dirty plates from my hands. "She lives in the Capital, comes here every few months to see Cinna, it's hard for him, you know?" That's why I hadn't met her, she lived to far away. And Cinna didn't talk about her because it would be to hard, now I felt horrible for him.

"Has Delly gotten a Prom dress, yet?" I ask, doodling on my notepad. If Delly hadn't gotten a dress, then I would feel a small bit better for not yet getting mine.

Peeta sticks a toothpick in the side of his mouth, shrugging his shoulders. "I think she mentioned something about getting one last week," says Peeta. "Why? Do you not have a dress yet, Katniss?" A smirk coming across his face.

"Shut up," I mouth to him, looking over my shoulder at Cato. He was keeping a close eye on Peeta and I, I guess he didn't trust us together. "He thinks I have a dress already, okay? So, just please keep your mouth shut, I'd appreciate it."

"Why would I tell, Cato?" he asks, throwing a rag over his shoulder. "We aren't even that close, he asked me to ask you to Prom because I was the closest to you, am the closest to you."

"What do you mean?" I say, following him over to a deserted table. "You and Cato _aren't _friends?"

Peeta shakes his head, sending Cato a small glace. "He is watching you like a hawk," he says with a chuckle. "He is probably making sure I don't lean in and kiss you, not like I would anyways, you're not my type." A grin appears on his face as he clears a few plates off of the table.

"Quit bothering the girl, Mellark," says Johanna, appearing beside me. "She's got to work and she can't if you keep flirting with her." Peeta rolls his eyes at her, hitting her shoulder as he walks past her, causing her to fall back a few steps.

"I wasn't _flirting_ with, Katniss," says Peeta, rolling his eyes at the spiky headed girl. Johanna laughs, bending down and placing her hands on her knees, acting as if this is the funniest thing she has ever heard.

"The lies don't work on me, Mellark," she says, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I had expected you to know that by now." Peeta rolls his eyes at her one last time before walking away from us. Johanna snickers, watching him disappear into the kitchen.

"What did he say to you?" she asks, leaning up against the table, waiting for me to start talking. "It was something about kissing you, I heard it!"

"Well, you heard wrong, Johanna," I say. "Maybe you should listen better next time, Peeta didn't say one thing about kissing me, I swear. We were only talking about Prom, ask Peeta yourself, he didn't say a thing about kissing me."

Johanna smirks, shaking her head at me. "For such a pretty girl, you suck at telling lies," she says, biting on the eraser of her pencil. "Before you lie, Katniss, make sure it doesn't sound like a piece of shit."

I sigh, slipping into one of the booths. "Did I really sound, unconvincing?" I ask, rubbing my forehead. A thousand things were going through my mind at this moment, finding a Prom dress, Johanna's voice on a unstoppable loop, and Peeta Mellark.

"Very unconvincing, I should add," she takes a sip of a milk shake that was on the tray she was carrying, the customer wouldn't be too thrilled about that. She is about to say something else before Finnick Odair slides in the booth beside her, bumping her side, causing the shake to cover her body. "Finnick! Gosh, I swear I will k- Finn! Annie hand him here!"

I watch as Annie hands Johanna a small child dressed in loads of blankets, I would be surprised if It was possible to see his face. "He just woke up so he might be a little cranky," she warns, giving his small foot a tiny pull.

Finnick leans over Johanna's shoulder, looking at the small child, a smile covering his face. "Katniss," he says, looking over at me. "Have you met him, yet?" I shake my head, I hadn't even heard anyone mention the name Finn other then referring to Finnick, not a baby.

"Here, let me explain this all to you," says Johanna, adjusting the child in her arms. "Finnick and Annie were so in love that they went to District 4, their birth place, and got hitched! And you know what happens after marriage? A family! So, here comes Finn, looking exactly like Finnick, sometimes its hard looking at the poor child."

Finnick elbows her hard in the rib, getting rewarded with loud yelp from the girl. "I'm not _horrible _looking, and my son isn't even close to ugly," he says, running a hand through his bronze hair. "So, watch what you say, Johanna."

She rolls her eyes, smiling down at Finn. "You're lucky I love him, or else, I would have thrown him at you," she snaps, sending Finnick a glare. I laugh, leaning over the table to get a good look at Annie and Finnick's child. He got nothing from Annie, looked like a spitting image of Finnick, it was kind of scary to be honest. I watch the way Finnick stares at his child, making a smile appear on my lips. Maybe this is what Peeta was scared he wouldn't get one day, a piece of him.

* * *

I lay on my living room couch, flipping through the Television channels, while Prim sits quietly on the floor, coloring on a piece of paper. My parents are in the kitchen, laughing loudly to one another, making me roll my eyes. I hear a light knock on the door, followed by Prim's loud footsteps running to answer it.

I move into the sitting position, trying to see who is behind the opened door. Prim has a huge grin on her face, welcoming the person inside. "Prim, who is-" I stop talking when I notice Peeta. He was dressed in a tuxedo, a small white rose pinned to his pocket, another rule made by Principal Snow that white roses should be worn to the Prom. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to check if you were actually ready, which clearly you aren't," says Peeta, motioning towards my sweatpants and t-shirt. "Katniss, Prom starts in an hour, did you lose track of time?"

"Peeta, it's four o'clock, the Prom doesn't start until eight," I say, rolling my eyes. "Is your watch messed up or something?"

Peeta chuckles, pointing towards the clock on my wall that read, _7 o'clock. _I feel my heart stop in my chest, I had actually lost track of time, what would Cato say about this? "Oh Gosh, what am I going to do?" I panic, rubbing my tired eyes. I didn't sleep a wink last night, too many things were going through my mind, things I had to sit and think about before I could get any rest.

"Well, the first thing you can do is put on your dress," he says. "Unless you want to go in that, I'm sure Principal Snow will be thrilled."

I sprint to my bedroom, grabbing my dress and slamming the door shut, locking it just in case Peeta, or anyone else, decided to invite themselves inside. I look into my mirror. My hair didn't look too bad, nothing a braid couldn't fix. I quick slip the silk dress over my body, getting goose bumps at how cold it is against my skin. I zip the back of the dress, throw on some shoes, and run out into the living room.

Peeta is seated on the couch, drawing a picture of a flower for Prim, not just any flower though, a Primrose. I try to quietly make it past them to the kitchen, but one of the wooden floor boards creek under my feet. Peeta quickly turns around, obviously expecting someone else from the look on his face. "You, uh, you look nice," he says, turning all the way around to face me.

I smile at him, slowly walking backwards towards the kitchen. "Thanks, I'll be out in a minute, do you know what time Cato is getting here?" I ask, almost running into the table behind me.

Peeta's mouth hang agape, he stares at me, completely unaware I had said anything at all. "Peeta?" I say, lifting an eyebrow at him, making sure he is actually here with me right now.

"Wait, what?" he says, shaking himself back into reality. "Oh, Cato? Yeah, I have no clue what time he is coming, but since you're dressed, I think I should leave to pick up, uh, Delly." He stands, patting Prim on the head, and walking towards the door. "Do me a favor and save me a dance, all right?" He smiles at me, exiting my house.

Tonight was going to be crazy.

* * *

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	3. Prom

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* * *

"You look beautiful, Katniss," raves my mother, quickly braiding my hair. "I'm sure Cato will love your dress!" I smile at her in the mirror. My eyes wonder to my dress, the way it hung off the side of my shoulder. It was a deep green, like the forest me and my father liked to go into. At the bottom hung hundreds of tiny gems, one on top of another, making the dress light up when the sun, coming through the window, hit it.

I truly didn't care if Cato liked my dress, I liked it, that's all that mattered. "Cato is here, Katniss," says Prim, smiling at me in the mirror. "You look really pretty." I turn towards her, bending down so that I'm her height.

"Thanks, Little Duck," I whisper, pulling her in for a hug. "I will be home late tonight, don't wait up, you need some rest." She smiles at me again, watching me walk to the front door, almost nervous to see Cato.

He comes into my view and I see that he is chatting with my father, a smile on his face the whole time. I hear him mention something about hunting, making a smile appear on my own face. "Hey, are you ready to go?" I ask, grabbing my purse off of the kitchen counter.

Cato's eyes fall on me. His mouth, like Peeta's earlier, hangs agape. "Yeah, we should get going," he points behind him at the front door. "Marvel and Glimmer are waiting outside. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Everdeen." He holds his hand out to my father, giving it a quick shake.

"Same to you, Cato," says my father, motioning towards the door. "You two have fun tonight, make sure Katniss gets home by twelve, all right?"

Cato nods, practically pulling me out the door. Marvel's car sits outside, the bright orange paint is glowing in the light of the moon. Glimmer sits in the passenger seat, coating her face with make-up, and shooting me a glare. "Katniss!" yells Marvel as I slip into the back seat. "You look fantastic! I think you might actually look better than, Glimmer."

Her eyes dart to him, I have no clue what kind of look she gives him, but it shuts him up. Cato jumps in the car beside me, quickly patting Glimmers shoulder, receiving a smile from her. She obviously liked him, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I'm silent for the whole drive to our school, Glimmer and Cato laugh and talk about old memories, while Marvel and I are left out.

"We're here," says Marvel, rolling his eyes at the laughing couple. I hop out of the car, hoping I will run into Peeta or someone that can save me. Right when I get to the gym door, I see Peeta standing with Delly by the bleachers. She is dressed in a knee high purple dress, covered in tiny crystals, and extremely tight on her curvy figure, no wonder Peeta asked her to Prom.

I can tell half the people here are wasted by how they are walking, the look exactly like zombies. I wonder what Principal Snow would say about this. I walk over to the punch bowl and pour myself a cup, chugging down the red liquid. I knew it was a mistake right after it hit my tongue. It was spiked, that was why everyone here was walking like the undead. Damn seniors.

"Hey, when did you get here?" asks Peeta, leaning up against the table beside me. Right beside him stands Delly, holding tightly to his hand, a huge smile covering her face.

"Just a minute ago," I say, trying to get the alcohol taste out of my mouth. "I'm Katniss." I stink my hand out to the smiley girl, it wouldn't hurt to get to know Peeta's new interest.

"Delly Cartwright," she chirps, taking my hand. "I have heard so much about you from Peeta, It's nice to finally meet you." It takes all the strength I have not to roll my eyes at her, I didn't need to start something, not tonight.

Peeta sends her a small smile, turning his attention back to me. "Hey Dell, Katniss promised me a dance," he says. "I will be back in a minute, okay?" She giggles, turning around to drink down some of the punch. She doesn't try to get the taste out of her mouth like me, instead, she pours herself another cup.

"Why did I agree to this?" I ask Peeta who is dragging me to the middle of the gym. He chuckles, pushing through people and quickly apologizing if he hits them too hard. The people would turn to yell, only to realize it was Peeta who hit them, giving them no reason to be angry.

"Because I'm amazing," he says, grabbing my hand into his. "Ready to dance with me, Katniss Everdeen?" I shrug my shoulders, unsure of what was coming my way. I had never been good at dancing, I was horrible at it. My father wouldn't even bother to dance with me because all I did was step on his feet.

He wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him, a smile coming across his face at the gasp that comes out of me. "Okay, you don't know how to dance do you?" he finally asks, staring at our entwined hands. I laugh, shaking my head a couple of times. "Here, I can teach you." He moves us farther away from the crowd of people surrounding us, just in case my dancing is just that bad.

"Do you even know how to dance?" I ask, staring at how his arm is tightly around my waist, his hand calloused against mine. It worried me that I was learning how to dance from someone who didn't know one thing about it, I was absolutely sure Peeta had no experience.

"Yeah, at my aunts wedding, I had to learn to dance," says Peeta. "My brothers, Xavier and Jason, thought it was just hilarious. I wish they had been the ones who had to learn, being the youngest really does suck."

I laugh, Prim never complained about being the youngest, but I never got under her skin and she never had to do stuff she didn't want to do. "Okay than, teach me how to dance, Mellark," I say, a smile appearing on my lips.

Peeta's grip on my waist tightens, along with the one on my hand. "Okay, right leg first," he explains, staring at my foot. "I move back my left, you move your right, understand? Then it does, I move my right, you move your left, that's all it is. Easy." I do as he says, finding myself actually dancing with him, but a very easy dance that everyone in here is seen doing.

"Wow, Peeta," I say, smiling up at him. "You're an amazing teacher, has anyone ever told you that?"

He shakes his head, chuckling at my compliment. "You're a fast learner," he raves, loosening his grip on my hand, somehow making it easier to breath. "So, I need to talk to you about something, if that's all right."

Confusion washes over me, why did it seem that he always had to talk to me about something? Usually when he said those words I would expect him to say something about himself, that he liked me or something like that, but so far all I have gotten is asked out by Cato, from him. "Is it about Cato again?" I ask, letting out a sigh. "If so, please save it, I don't want to hear it."

He laughs. "No, it's not about Cato," he assures. "It's about...you and me." He motions between the two of us. I was ready for what he was going to say, something about how great of friends we have become, how I can tell him anything, all of that shit I've heard about a million times from him.

"What about us?" I ask, slightly pulling away from him, but all that does is make him pull me back to where I was. I kept waiting for the words to escape his mouth, except he was silent, trying to think through if what he was going to say was the right thing.

"Well, Katniss-"

"Peeta, are you two done dancing yet?" asks Delly, looking at how close we are to one another. For some odd reason, she still had a smile on her face, as if she enjoyed seeing us like this.

Peeta lets out a sigh, along with my hand, letting it drop to my side. "Yeah," says Peeta, following Delly to a group of their friends. "I'll talk to you about it later all right, Katniss?"

I don't even have time to reply before he is pulled into the arms of the blond haired girl. I watch her whisper something in his ear, making him smile. "Spying on them, huh?" says Johanna from beside me. "Wow, I thought you were better than this, Katniss."

I look over to find Johanna watching them also, holding a cup of the spiked punch in her hand. "You do realize that is pretty much all alcohol, right?" I point out, staring at the clear glass. Johanna rolls her eyes, chugging down what's left of the cup.

"You're such a party pooper," she spits at me, running off to get more. I was starting to think I'd be the only sober person here when the night ended, I'd have to drive Johanna home. _Shit._

I take a seat at one of the food tables, drunk people all laid out over here, throwing up and some even making out. "Hey, I've been looking for you everywhere," says Cato, taking a seat beside me. "Where did you run off to?"

I shrug my shoulders, my eyes locked on Peeta and Delly. "I went dancing with, Peeta." I say, laying my head in the palm of my hand. "Since he actually wanted to dance and talk to me, unlike you who is obsessed with Glimmer. Why did you ask me to come anyways?"

His eyes grow dark. "I'm not obsessed with Glimmer," he snaps, turning around and searching for someone on the dance floor. "And Mellark had no right dancing with you, you're not his date. You're mine."

"No I'm not!" I argue, slamming my hand against the table. "I came here with you, Cato. Just be glad I did, but I'm sure as hell not yours, understand? Peeta can dance with me if he wants to, I was the one who said yes when he asked, okay? So shut up and go dance with Glimmer."

Shock washes over his face, this was clearly not me talking, I was never this rude to anyone. What was wrong with me? "Cato, I'm so sorry, I have no clue what's wrong with me tonight," I apologize, staring down at my hands.

"Maybe I should go dance with Glimmer, since she isn't being a bitch and all," says Cato, pushing his chair out from under him, sending it knocking over a table behind him. I couldn't bring myself to stop him as he stomps away from me, bringing the tall blond girl into his arms and crashing his lips against hers. Looks like I'd need to find another ride home tonight.

I look over my shoulder to see people staring at me, horror written all over their faces. I lean my elbows on the table and bury my face into my hands, there was no telling how many people thought I was a bitch, how many people that won't trust me because of his words. I feel my face burn in embarrassment, hundreds of eyes falling on me at this very moment.

"Hi, Katniss," says Madge, holding tightly to Gale's hand as she walks over to me. Gale's eyes are locked on Cato's chair, I have a feeling he saw what happened. "Having fun?" I don't answer, I just stare at the anger in Gale's eyes, I'm not sure where it came from but it's definitely there.

"Hey, Madge," I finally say, bringing my eyes to her. "I'm not really having fun, have you seen Peeta?"

A smirk comes across Gale's face as he turns to me. "I was just talking to him, he's actually looking for you," he informs me, pointing towards the punch bowl. Peeta is standing right beside it, warning people not to drink from it, while some listen, and others just roll their eyes at him.

"Thanks," I stand up and make my over to the blue eyed boy. I'm still getting horrid looks, I really hurt whatever reputation I might have had before all of this. Being the new girl sucked. I stop moving when I'm standing directly behind Peeta, him oblivious to everything but searching around the gym. I can't help but smile at this. "So, I heard you were looking for me?" I whisper, moving to his side.

When he realizes it's me, a wide smile takes its place. "Yeah, I was," says Peeta, leaning his back up against the table. "Do you wanna come outside with me for a minute? I kind of don't want to get interrupted again."

I nod my head, letting him lead me to the hallway and up to the roof, I love that we are the only ones that know about it. He takes a seat on the railing, motioning for me to join him. Before I sit down, I look at how high up we were. If I fell, I'd definitely be dead. "What if we fall?" I ask him, keeping my hand tight around the bottom of the medal, making sure I don't fall to my death.

Peeta chuckles at this. "You won't," he assures, stinking his hand out. "Watch this." I watch him stick it out farther. I hear a loud _zap _then see him pull back his hand, rubbing it with his other one. "Years ago, everyone used to come up here, they used to jump off the side and skip school," he explains. "So, when Snow heard about it, he installed some force fields, to, uh, keep us from leaving."

"So, what you're saying is," I begin, staring out at the town. "I won't die if I fall, but I will get seriously injured? Huh, sounds very evil if you ask me." I had heard a million times that Principal Snow was a horrible person. I had never met him in person, all I knew about him is that he loved roses, which was weird.

"It is evil," agrees Peeta, nodding his head a few times. He brings his bottom lips in between his teeth, taking in a deep breath before facing me. "Now, I need to talk to you about something that has been bugging me pretty much all day, Katniss."

I shift uncomfortably in my spot, bugging him all day? It was about us and it has been bugging him all day? Right now I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest, it was going way to fast, I was starting to wonder if Peeta could hear it. "All right, what's been bugging you?" I ask, biting my own bottom lip.

He hesitates, which scares me ever more. I feel as if this is the worst news in the whole entire world. "Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to come to the movies with Gale, Madge and I on Tuesday night? They asked me to come since they have been fighting a lot lately, and I really didn't want to be alone with them," his eyes grow wide at just thinking about what it'd be like at the movies with them.

I laugh at him, nodding my head. "Sure, I'll come," I say. "Only if you drive me home tonight, Cato and I really didn't get along." Now that I think about it, It's going to be hard seeing him at work everyday, the look he'll probably give me, it will make me wanna quit most likely.

"Uh, yeah I kind of heard about that," says Peeta, looking everywhere but at me. "Cato can be a dick sometimes, I shouldn't have let him take you here, I'm sorry." I shrug my shoulders, playing with the end of my braid. It wasn't Peeta's fault that Cato asked me here anyway. It was my fault for saying yes to someone I really didn't know one thing about.

"Not your fault, Peeta," I say, biting my tongue. I wanted to talk to Peeta about the movies, to ask him why he asked me to come instead of his girlfriend, Delly. I can just picture him shaking it off, saying something like he wanted a friend to come, or that Delly had plans. Before I can stop them, the words spill out of my mouth. "Why didn't you ask your girlfriend to go?"

Peeta looks away from the town, staring at me with wide eyes. "What are you talking about, Katniss?" he says, shock covering his usual voice.

"Uh, Delly," I say, unknowingly rolling my eyes. It was starting to become a habit of mine. "You two are dating, right?" He shakes his head at me, his mouth falling open. _Okay, not his girlfriend. _I feel the smile that's trying to break out on my lips. I try my hardest to hold it back, biting on my bottom lip and trying to think about something else at the moment, anything.

He clears his throat, obviously still trying to get over the shock I had just caused. "I have known Delly since I was five, Katniss," he says. "My father and her mother were very close, they would swap flowers and food. We aren't dating."

I lift an eyebrow at this new found information. Okay, they had known each other since they were five, that didn't explain why she was holding so tightly to his hand. "Why did you ask her to Prom than?"

He chuckles to himself as if he had remembered something. "When we were seven I promised her I'd take her to Prom," he explains, smiling at the memory. "She bothered me about it for years, kept reminding me that Prom was however many years away, I wasn't going to break that promise. And plus, since she is two years older, I get to carry her to hers and I get to bring whoever I want to mine."

Prim had a deal similar to this already in place. Right when she moved here, boys flocked her, asking her out and wanting to work with her on class projects. This one boy, Rory Hawthorne, told her one day if she didn't get married, he'd marry her. I found out later he was Gale's younger brother. Every once in a while I always wondered if Rory had told his family about him proposing. Not that I expect he would.

"Did Glimmer know about this arrangement when you two were dating?" I ask, throwing my braid over my shoulder.

"Yeah, it made her furious," he tells me. "She went on and on about how Delly was more important to me then her, turns out it was one hundred percent true. Delly hadn't broken my heart, Glimmer had. Which makes her way more important than Glimmer."

* * *

I pull some books out of my locker, staring at the picture of a deer that is hanging on the door of it. Everyday that hunting class sounded better and better. I wonder if they would except me so late into the semester. Maybe Gale could pull some strings for me, maybe if I'm lucky, get me in.

"Nice picture," says a deep voice, clearly noticing what I'm staring at. I know it's Peeta, he is pretty much the only person that visits me at my locker. Well, him and Johanna that is.

Peeta had drove me home after Prom. My father had loved him, saying how mannered he was, my mother surprisingly agreed. He stayed for hours, since his curfew was at three, he had time to spare. "You're pretty much the only person who likes it," I say, slamming it closed. "Everyone else that has seen it has either fainted or made a disgusted noise at it."

He smiles at me. "So, are you signing up for Gale's class?" he says, walking into Mr. Abernathy's class with me. I take my seat, looking at the sloppy handwriting on the board. It said something about football. Right when I'm about to ask Peeta what it says, I hear him hiss a quiet '_Shit.' _I know it can't be good now, so I don't bother trying to read the older mans handwriting.

"Uh, I have thought about sighing up for his class," I bite down on the end of my pencil. "But I'm not sure if I should or not, I'm good enough at hunting already, what could Gale Hawthorne teach me that I don't already know?"

Peeta points his pencil towards me as a smirk takes it's place on his lips. "I think he might know more than you give him credit for, Miss. Everdeen," he jokingly says. "I really want you to at least try it out, for me?"

I sigh. I didn't want to talk about this all day, so I agree. "All right class," says Mr. Abernathy, flopping into his seat. "Has everyone read the board?" Peeta shakes his head at his words, laying his head in his hand. "If not, all you football players need to, now!" The class grows completely silent. Johanna looks wide eyed at the teacher, I bet she is thinking about a come back if he yells at her.

I lean over to Peeta, squinting my eyes at me board. "What does it say?" I question, trying my best to read it.

He leans closer to me. "It says that we are now having practice every Saturday night," he whispers into my ear. "That means someone will have to take my shift at work. Shit, my mother is going to be so angry at Haymitch, I already can't work on Mondays and Wednesdays because of him, she's going to make me quit football."

I part my mouth to speak but forget what I'm about to say when my name cuts through the classroom. "Katniss, I need to speak to you," says Mr. Abernathy, waving me over to him. Peeta lifts an eyebrow at the man, he is probably wondering the same thing I am, why would Haymitch need to talk to me?

I walk up to his desk, biting on the side of my cheek to hide how scared I am. "Sir?" I felt it was right to say that, to act as if I was a perfect student, maybe he would go easy on me if I were in trouble if I did that. He smiles up at me, making me slightly jump. It takes all the strength I have not to let my eyes widen at the sight.

"Ms. Trinket, our cheerleading coach wants you to try out," he says, handing me a pink letter covered in glitter. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I've seen you do track in gym, you came in first. I think she liked how athletic you were, try outs are tomorrow, Miss. Everdeen." With that, he waves me back to my seat and starts teaching class. I slide into my seat and stare at the brightly colored letter.

"What did he say to you?" asks Peeta, leaning over to look at my letter. I quickly shove it into my folder, not letting him see it quite yet. When I became a cheerleader I would tell him, but now, it was going to be a secret.

"Oh nothing..." I say, jotting down some things Mr. Abernathy writes on the board. Peeta grins at me, staring at my folder. He wanted to know what I was hiding and just the thought made me smile.

* * *

**Okay, so there has been a change in character. I made Effie the cheerleading coach instead of Katniss's aunt who is now going to be Mags. Sorry if I mixed you up! Review? **


	4. Confusion

**A huge thank you to all of you that have Reviewed, Alerted, and Favorited this story, it means a lot to me. **

**Peeta's POV**

"Mellark! You can do better than this!" yells Haymitch, throwing the football hard on the ground. "All of you can do better than this! Y'all are all playing like little girls! You sure as hell better not play like this on Friday, understand me?" Gale chuckles beside me, checking his watch. He wanted Haymitch's speech to be over already, just like every other person on the field, except for Finnick who enjoys when we get yelled at. "Now, we are going to keep practicing until you boys understand that we _can't _afford to lose this damn game!"

Tired moans come across the field from everyone, including me. I feel a hand land on my shoulder, pulling me back a little. "Hey, don't be bummed," says Finnick, pointing behind him. "Today is cheerleading tryouts, longer Abernathy lets us stay out here, longer we get to see them." I roll my eyes at him, of course Glimmer would be trying out, that means I'd have to sit there and watch.

"Mellark, Odair, on the bench, now!" yells Haymitch, pulling us over and slamming us into the seats. _Shit! Now I'd actually have to sit and watch this. _"You boys have to help Ms. Trinket with tryouts, you're guys, you know what's hot and what's not." Ms. Trinket waddles over to us, her heels sinking into the muddy grass of the field.

She slips on some white gloves, giving the ground a nasty look. "Hello boys," she says to us, holding out her hand to Finnick. "I'm Effie Trinket, the cheerleading coach this year, I don't think I've had the pleasure meeting you."

Finnick smirks, taking her hand in his. "I'm Finnick Odair, it's amazing I haven't seen your pretty face around," he says. "It'd be hard to forget it." I roll my eyes and watch her giggle, her face turning into a deep red. I look up to find a bright pink wig high on her head.

"Odair! No flirting, your wife wouldn't like that very much, now would she?" yells Haymitch, letting out a loud chuckle before turning back to the team. Finnick smiles, looking behind Ms. Trinket at all of the cheerleaders. Their skirts seemed to get shorter since last year, the tops now showed their stomachs, no wonder Snow hired Ms. Trinket this year.

Ms. Trinket hurried over to all of the girls, her heels now covered in mud, she was never coming out here again. "Holy shit!" yells Finnick, slapping my back. "Katniss is trying out, man!" I search all of the girls until my eyes land on Katniss who is chatting with Effie, a smile on her face. Her hair is in a high pony tail and her cheerleading uniform is extremely tight on her. I wonder how she can breath in it.

"No way..." I say, shaking my head at the sight. Katniss always seemed like one of those girls who would never even think about cheerleading, let alone do it. "That's what she was hiding from me yesterday! She didn't want me knowing she was becoming a cheerleader!" Finnick's eyes leave me and a smile washes over his face.

"Hey guys," says Annie, standing before us with her hands on her hips. "Shouldn't you be playing football?" She lifts an eyebrow at us, taking a seat next to Finnick. I shake my head, turning my attention back to Katniss. Her eyes were locked on me, she was probably wondering why I was looking at her. _Dammit_.

She waves a few girls a good bye and runs over to me, confusion written all over her face. "Uh, hey," says Katniss, crossing her arms over her chest. "Did Mr. Abernathy kick you two off of the field?" Her arms are locked around her chest, I'm pretty sure she won't remove them until she tries out.

"Well actually, Effie need us to help her with the tryouts, giving all of you scores," I explain, motioning towards the pink headed lady. "If I could choose, I wouldn't be doing it, but whatever Haymitch wants us to do, we have to do." She laughs, staring down at her arms. It is silent for a long moment, so I decide to speak. "So, are you still coming to the movies tonight?"

She looks up at me, a small smile on her lips. "Of course, I need something to do to get my mind off of the whole cheerleading thing anyway," she says, looking over her shoulder at all of the girls. Most of them were staring at her, I have no clue why though, unless she had done something I didn't know about. Before I can ask her about it, Effie calls all of the girls to line up. "I'll see you after try outs," says Katniss, running off to be with the others.

* * *

"I can tell you who I think is going to be on the team," says Effie, checking our scores. "Annie, Rose, Mary, Karen, Delly, and Katniss. Those are the ones that are going on the team, we will have to choose the others later, come boys, go get changed."

Finnick motions for me to go on and he runs over to Annie who is standing by the girls locker room. I smile as he sends Effie, who is standing beside Haymitch, a wink. I turn to find Katniss leaning up against the boys locker room door, still in her cheerleading outfit. Her hair is down, covering her shoulders. I had never seen it down, it was always in a braid. She is playing with the ends of her hair when she notices me. "How'd I do, Mellark?" she asks, pushing the locker room door open.

"You did a hell of a job, Everdeen," says Haymitch who is now behind me. "I was watching all you girls try out, I swear you were the best, sweetheart." Haymitch calling Katniss _sweetheart_ made me feel angry for some unknown reason. I mean, he called every girl that, it just made me feel weird when he called _Katniss_ that.

"You were great," I agree, giving her a smile. I carefully grab her arm and pull her in the locker room, slamming the door in Haymitch's face. I was going to get hell about it later, but I didn't really care. "Effie told me that you were on the team, so you were great."

She takes a seat on one of the benches in the room, her skirt raising a small bit before she pulls it back down. "That's, uh, great," she says, staring down at her skirt, as if telling it to stay where it is. "I didn't really want to be a cheerleader, but Ms. Trinket wanted me to try out..so, I did."

I pull off my shoulder pads, throwing them in my locker, I smile at how I'm able to feel my shoulders again. "You know, football really kills you," I say, slamming my locker closed before pulling on a clean shirt. "I wish I could make Haymitch do all the shit he makes us do, maybe that would help me do better, watching him try to play football with all of us. That would let me know I actually do better than someone."

"Of course you'd do better than him," she states, standing up and walking over to me. "He is old, you're young, there is kind of an advantage there, don't you think?" I laugh and lean up against a few of the lockers, for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. _What the hell is wrong with you, Peeta? _I turn away from her and grab my bag, throwing it over my shoulder.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Katniss pulling her phone out of her pocket, smiling at whatever is on it. I walk up behind her, trying to read the text before she closes her phone and sticks it in her bag. "You really shouldn't be reading people's messages, Peeta," she says, turning to face me. It doesn't take me long to notice how close we are to one another, if I leaned any closer, I'd be kissing her. On habit, I lick my lips. _Dammit dude, what the hell are you doing?_ Surprisingly, Katniss stays whereshe is, watching me closely.

Just when I'm about to lean in, the door slams open. "Oh wow," says Finnick, a chuckle in his voice. Katniss pulls away and grabs her bag. Now I'm going to get hell from both Finnick and Haymitch.

"I guess I'll see you tonight, Peeta," she says, rushing out the door. I try my hardest not to curse because I _didn't_ like Katniss, I mean, I _couldn't_ like Katniss. I almost kissed Katniss, it doesn't mean I like her, does it? No, it doesn't.

"Great job today, Katniss!" Finnick yells after her, his usual smirk taking its place on his face. I had a feeling what he was going to say next was going to be about what we were doing in here. "Peeta, maybe you should find another place to have sex with Katniss." I pick up my shoe off the ground at throw it at him, only to result in him catching it. Damn Football.

I curse him under my breath, gathering all of my football stuff in my arms. "You can not tell my mother about this, Finn," I say, grabbing my shoe from his hands. "About me not even doing football today, understand?" He nods his head, opening his mouth to speak. I'm out of the room before he can even get it out. I throw my things in the back of my car, noticing a folded piece of paper on the floor. I lean to pick it up, only to hear a small familiar voice behind me. I look up to find Rue, a smile on her face that is wide enough to reach her ears.

"Hey Peeta," she whispers, leaning over to see whats in my hands. "Thresh put that in your car, you were at football practice when he came to meet up with you, he didn't want to bother you. He said that he saw you and a girl go into the locker room." She giggles at this, funny how she thinks she knows what Katniss and I were actually doing.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to tell your brother to shut up aren't I?" I say, leaning down so that I'm her height. Thresh and I have been friends since we were six, it was expected that he would tell someone that he saw me and Katniss go into the locker room. Just not expected that that person would be his younger sister.

"Who was the girl, Peeta?" she asks, lifting her eyebrows at me. "Was it your girlfriend?" I shake my head, standing up and shutting the back door of my car. Rues eyes follow me as I get inside and shut the door, rolling down the window to tell her a goodbye. "Wait, Peeta, can I meet her?"

I couldn't say no, after all, Katniss wasn't mine. I sort of didn't want her meeting Thresh though, but if she didn't fall for Finnick, she wouldn't fall for Thresh either. "Yeah, sure," I say with a shrug of my shoulders. "I'm sure she'd like meeting you, Rue." This brings a smile to her face. "Well, I have to get going. Tell Thresh I'll see him tomorrow at the party, all right?" She nods her head and runs off to her mother, who sends me a small wave.

I drive down the road, millions of things running through my mind, including Katniss. I stop at a red light and stare out my window, the road had just been re-done since, a few weeks ago, some collage students decided to rip the tar off of the road. Everyone was ticked, while I thought it was pretty funny, until I had to drive across it. As I'm thinking back to that, a girl takes over my vision, but not just any girl. It was Katniss.

She had her ear buds in, her hair in a messy bun and she was running with Johanna. She was off today at work, I never knew this is how she spent those days. I smile to myself and head home.

* * *

"Peeta! Damn dude, how long does football practice last?" asks Xavier, rolling his eyes at me. He was laid out on the couch, a few of his friends surrounding him, chuckling. Xavier's friends were really weird, they were either always laughing at everything he said, or passed out on the floor. My mother had to take one of them to the hospital once, she banned him from the house, but of course, let him come back only a few days later.

I dump my football things in the laundry room, giving them a hard kick. "Forever," I say quickly, rushing up the stairs, running into my mother on the way to my bedroom. "Uh, hey mom, I'm sorry I'm late." She smiles at me, clean clothes piled in her arms.

"Tell Haymitch I can't have you late all of the time, dear," she says laying the clothes in my arms. "I was actually just about to take this to your room, will you do it for me?" I was surprised at the way she was talking, she was never this nice. I try to not let my confusion show on my face as I walk over to my room, dumping my clothes on my bed. I grab my phone off of my desk, I had five missed calls from Glimmer. I stare at the screen, trying to take in what I had just seen. I click my message box and find three unread messages from her.

_Peeta! Why are you going to a movie with Katniss tonight? Call me back!_

_Gosh, Peeta do you ever answer your phone?_

_Peeta Mellark! Call me back, NOW!_

Right that very moment she called me back. I force my eyes to close as I hit the accept button, bringing the phone to my ear. "What?" I say, pacing around my room. With Glimmer, you never knew what she was going to say, I could be getting yelled at for all I know.

"Don't be like that!" she shouts at me, making me pull the phone away from my ear. "Why are you taking Katniss to the movies tonight? Are you two dating or something? I don't think I like that."

"No one cares what you like, Glimmer," I spit at her, wishing she could see me roll my eyes. "I am not dating Katniss so don't worry about it, you're not my girlfriend, why do you even care?" The line is silent, I feel like yelling at her, telling her that I have no time to talk to someone I don't like. "Come on, Glimmer, I don't have all day, I actually have shit to do."

"Because I miss you, Peeta!" she cries out, actual sadness in her voice. This actually makes me smile, seeing Glimmer sad was always fun to watch, everyone thought so. Without thinking about it, I laugh.

"Bye Glimmer," I say, pressing the end button, throwing my phone somewhere in my room. From that conversation, I learned a lot. That everyone thinks Katniss and I are going out, and that it makes Glimmer jealous, to bad I don't like her. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs before coming into my room. I look over my shoulder and see Gale staring at the floor, where my phone lays shattered across the carpet.

"Well, shit," He says, not even looking up at me. "Did your phone upset you, Mellark?" He laughs to himself, flopping down on my bed, all of my clothes now scattered on the floor. My mother would have to fold them again, or worse, I would. He was just lucky my mother loved him, or else he'd be banned from the house like half of Xavier's dumb ass friends.

"Dude, I'm gonna have to fold these," I complain. "Why are you here, Gale? We aren't supposed to meet up until seven, did you think it was seven, man?" Gale waves off my comment, staring up at my ceiling fan. This was the reason him and Madge fought a lot, he got easily distracted, which girls hate. "Gale?"

He looks over at me, waiting for me to ask another question. I roll my eyes. "Why are you here?" I say as slow as I possibly can. He yawns, completely ignoring me, or at least trying to. "Seriously? Gale, why are you here, man?"

"I heard you and Katniss were going out," I finally speaks, turning his attention back to me. "I wanted to hear if it were true before I ask in front of her, if it wasn't real, she would probably think you said you were dating her and drama would probably go." I let out a sigh, fishing for a clean shirt in my closet.

"I have to go take a shower," I say leaning up against the door frame. "I really don't want you joining me so go down stairs and talk to Xavier for a few minutes." He doesn't have time to reply before I shut the door and turn on the water.

When I get inside, all of my thoughts come out. The thoughts on how Finnick, Thresh _and_ Rue thought me and Katniss were actually having sex, How Glimmer and Gale, and most likely everyone from school, thought we were dating. I'm starting to think this might be a sign, either to stay away, or maybe...never mind, I don't think it's anything, why do I care so much about this?

I jump out of the shower, throwing on my clothes and opening the door to my room. Katniss is looking at all of the pictures on my desk, she looks over at me with a smile, that's when I notice I'm frozen. I have no clue what I look like right now, my mouth is probably hanging open and I'm probably staring at her. _Pull yourself out of it, Peeta!_ "Hey," I finally get out, slowly walking over to her. "Who let you in?" I don't know why I even asked that, I already knew the answer.

"Oh, Gale did," she says, biting down on her bottom lip. "Sorry, I should have..." I follow her gaze and see her eyes locked on my broken phone. I hold back a laugh that's trying to escape, she looks modified.

I cough to hide the chuckle that hangs on my tongue. "It's fine, I kind of don't think I will be having a phone for a while, anyway," I point out, leaning down to pick up the broken glass of the screen. Katniss takes a seat on my bed, crossing her legs. Now that she was a cheerleader, I have a feeling she is going to change. "So, what movie do you want to see?" We were going to the theater with Gale and Madge, I never said we would go see the same movie though.

Katniss shrugs, her eyes locked on a picture that hangs on my wall. It was a drawing I had done a few months ago, everyone loved it and told me to hang it on my wall, I didn't like it at first but after I hung it up, it started looking better everyday. It was of a little girl and her mother I saw at my family reunion, she was holding tightly to her mothers hand, looking at some ducks that were swimming in a pond. "That's really good, Peeta," she finally says, getting up to get a better look at it. "How do you do this?"

I look down at her. A smile is plastered on her face, making me feel a weird feeling inside. She was really pretty, maybe I did..._Shut up! You will not ruin your friendship with, Katniss. _"What? Draw?" She nods. "I can teach you some time if you'd like."

She smiles again, nodding her head. "Would you really do that?" She looks up at me, her eyes are unsure. _Gosh, she is perfect._ "Peeta?" When I snap out of it I release I had been staring, I feel my face turn to a bright red.

"Yeah," I say, acting as if nothing had happened. "It will be fun, I'm actually a pretty good teacher." I wink at her, receiving a roll of the eyes from her. Maybe I would need Gale and Madge with me tonight, I don't think I could be with Katniss for too long.

She stands up and walks over to my door. "I want to see a scary movie tonight," she says before disappearing down the stairs. _Shit, Gale and Madge_ will_ definitely not want to watch a scary movie. _I grab my wallet off of my desk and then notice a photo that lays next to it. It was of Glimmer and I when we were dating. Katniss was looking at the pictures on my desk. Suddenly my head starts to hurt, what have I gotten myself into?

* * *

**What did you think about the whole Katniss and Peeta thing? How about Peeta's mom? Oh, and please tell me what you thought about the Peeta POV, should I keep it Katniss or do both? Review!**


	5. Coffee Instead

**Just wanted to let everyone know that this story is supposed to be based in 2008, Katniss and Peeta are 16 so in the epilogue they will be 20. Anyway, thanks for all of the Reviews, Alerts and Favorites, they mean so much to me!**

**Peeta's POV**

I rush down the stairs to find Katniss talking with my brother, Gale and my mother. I feel my face grow hot, who knows what my mother has told Katniss about me by now, probably something embarrassing about me as a baby. So she can't go any further, I decide to speak, "Hey, ready to go?" I get out, walking towards the front door. Katniss and Gale both stand up, making relief wash over me. "Bye mom, I'll be back at twelve." She nods her head and waves Katniss a goodbye, I'm going to die if they have actually taken a liking to each other.

Katniss and I wait in my car for Gale to pull out of my driveway. I catch her looking back at my house from over her shoulder, I had no clue why so many people liked my house, after all, it was just a _house._ "Your home is huge," says Katniss, breaking the silence. "I thought mine was, I guess I was wrong." No one was exactly poor in town, we had enough jobs for everyone, enough food. There were very few homeless people on the street, it was rare to see them. When you did, they were on the way to the town a few miles over, now that town was pretty poor.

"Yours is big," I assure her, starting my car up. I still remember what it looks like, how there is an American Flag hanging right beside their front door, how it's painted a bright, clean white, sure to catch eyes that are miles away. She slides her seat belt over her body, making me wonder about the cheerleading outfit earlier today..._Stop!_ "So, you wanna see a scary movie, huh?"

Katniss' head snaps up, a smile appearing on her face. "Yeah, if that's okay with you," I try not look at her for too long after she says this, I didn't want her to think I was one of those who liked staring, it truly wasn't my fault she was so damn attractive. What am I even saying?

"Yeah, it's fine with me," I manage to get out, my eyes locked on the road ahead. I lean ahead a bit, turning up the radio. I needed a distraction. The song on was one that I had heard what felt like a million times, even though I never found out the name of it. I can see Katniss tapping her feet at the beat, she knew it as well. I lean over again, this time pressing the channel searcher. I land on one that I know will get something out of the girl beside me.

She sits still for a moment before turning to me, a smirk playing on her lips. "Of course you would pick a station that plays this kind of music," The song is about sex, like every other song made now a days, as my mother says. It was the kind of music that was banned from my house, that includes IPod's.

I turn it down, noticing her discomfort with it. "My mother doesn't like this kind of music, either," I point out, trying to hold back a laugh. "Good thing I'm moving into the guest house next month, I can listen to whatever I feel like."

Katniss laughs. "Please," she says with a wave of her hand. "Your mother will be watching you like a hawk, Peeta Mellark. Plus, she will probably hire Gale and I as spies, I think you might want to watch what you listen to and _do _in your bedroom." It doesn't take a genius to know she is talking about sex, which is also banned from my house, now I'm starting to wonder what _isn't _banned.

"Come on, Katniss," I tease. "She'll never know what _we_ do in there...or in here for that matter." A very visible blush takes it's place on her cheeks, telling me that I have succeeded. "Anyway, don't worry about it, sex is banned at home." She doesn't relax at this information like I expected. Probably because sex is pretty much banned at every teenagers house.

"I expect that," she finally speaks. "Anyway, who has time for sex? And even if you have a time and a place, can't mothers smell it on you?" I laugh, turning into the movie theater. My mother had never smelled it on my brothers or me...or maybe she did. I have no clue and there was no way I was going to ask my mother if she could smell when people had sex.

"My mother can't," And with that, we are both out of the car, heading towards the square entrance of the theater. Madge and Gale are waiting for us outside the doors, their backs turned to one another. "Shit.." I open up the door for Katniss and I, waving them to come inside with us.

We don't bother to get popcorn or any candy, neither of us were hungry. Katniss takes a seat in the half crowded theater. I sit down beside her and notice that there were two seats open in front of us but none beside us. Madge moves past Gale and slides into one of the empty seats, laying her elbow on the arm rest along with her head in her hand. I finally rip my eyes from the sad girl when Katniss's name is yelled throughout the theater. "Katniss!" The person jumps down a few stairs, pushing through people to reach her, falling over some legs that he didn't see laid out in front of him.

Confusion washes over Katniss's face as she watches the boy take a seat on the floor in front of her. I laugh when I notice it is Marvel. "Uh, hey," says Katniss, scratching the back of her neck. He clearly embarrassed her. "Who are you here with?"

Marvel's eyes shoot up and look around the theater. He lifts a finger up and points to a short girl with brown hair. "Clove," I choke back a laugh on this one. He probably had to pay Clove to come here with him, this was absolutely hilarious. He turns back to Katniss with a smile on his face. He finally looks over at me, the smile slightly turning into a frown. "Hey, Peeta."

"Hey," I say with a smirk on my face. "You and Clove dating now? I haven't talked to you in a while, how's your life been, Crane?" Marvel's father, Seneca Crane, was a doctor here in town, there was no telling how many kids he had. All I know is Marvel isn't his first and surely not his last.

"Pretty good..." he says, looking behind me. "Hey! There are two seats behind you two, mind if Clove and I take them?" I hear Katniss let out a breath I hadn't even known she was holding in. So, Marvel makes her feel uncomfortable and embarrassed? Funny...

"I don't officially own those seats," says Katniss with a shrug of her shoulders. "Sit wherever you'd like." Marvel smiles and practically climbs over a few people to get over to those seats, this time, I actually laugh. He settles loudly in his chair, making it make rubber noises that go throughout the whole theater, this makes every eye fall on him. Yes, the theater was loud before, now it was completely silent except for Marvel.

He looks up to find everyone in the whole theater watching him. He gives us all a crooked smile and sits still, motioning for Clove to come join him. The short brown headed girl's face is blood red as she makes her way to the seat beside him. I can't help but feel a small bit sorry for her. She looks down at me and for some odd reason, her face gets even redder. I can tell Katniss had seen it too because she looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

I had only talked to Clove a handful of times, and those times were when she was at the cafe or when Glimmer brought her to a party with us when we were together. She was sort of shy, around me that is. In class she was like a social butterfly. "Hi, Clove," I smile, sending her a small wave. I can see the small corners of her mouth lift up a bit as she waves back.

I turn to Katniss who is playing with the end of her braid beside me. I watch her do this until the theater goes dark and the movie starts to play. It's some pre-view of a cartoon movie, something about a panda. I stare at the screen trying to remember the name when I hear a small laugh come from Katniss. I turn to her with, what I'm sure, is a confused expression. "Interested in Kung Fu Panda, Mellark?" she teases. _That's what it's called!_

"Just trying to remember the name is all," I say, leaning back in my chair. "I should be asking you the same question, since you actually knew the name of it." She laughs at me again, shaking her head.

"I saw it with Prim just a few days ago," she explains, staring up at the panda. "I hated it, but I couldn't say anything about it because she loved it." I can feel Marvel's eyes burning a hole through the back of my chair. Maybe I should take this even further.

I lean in closer to her, his eyes following me. "It looks pretty lame," I joke as I hear the voice of Jack Black echo throughout the theater. "Do you wanna go get a coffee? I think Madge and Gale can survive without us, don't you?" Even in the dark room, I can see her smile.

"Absolutely," We both stand, trying as hard as we can to not get noticed by Madge or Gale.

* * *

We are seated in a coffee shop a few blocks away from the theater, Katniss and I had the idea of sneaking back in when the movie was close to being over. "So, I am going to ask you a few questions, okay?" says Katniss, bringing her cup to her lips. I look up from mine, lifting an eyebrow at her. "What? I don't exactly _know_ you yet, this will help me know what Peeta Mellark likes and doesn't like." I knew I couldn't say no to her so I agree.

"Who was your first girlfriend?" the look on her face when she says this tells me she isn't going to let it slide. I take another sip of my coffee as I try to ponder my head for the name of my first girlfriend. I can recall my first kiss, so I guess that might count as a girlfriend.

"Vesper Collins," I don't even know how I remembered her, I was like six when we kissed. I guess it was because her name was so unusual, just like Katniss's that I swear I will never forget. I don't even remember what Vesper looked like.

"Hm.." she says. "How old were you then?"

"I was six," I explain, looking around the coffee shop. The walls were painted a bright orange and green, the chairs that were in the sitting area were in the shapes of hands and large circles that hang from the ceiling. I had been here a few times with my mother and father to get breakfast for Xavier and Jason when I was younger, it was amazing how much it had changed since then.

My attention lands on the woman at the counter who keeps sending me looks every once in awhile. I smile at her and she turns cherry red. "She likes you," says Katniss, clearly noticing who I was looking at. I look back at Katniss, wanting to laugh at this information. Yes, maybe the woman did like me, but I didn't like her...I didn't even know her. "Maybe you should go talk to her, or if you want, lean over and kiss me, see what she does."

Out of the corner of my eye I can see the woman staring at Katniss and I, watching us closely. I was begging to think Katniss really wanted me to kiss her. I was starting to hate my own self for actually wanting to do it. "All right," I lean over, making her expect a kiss, but instead, I push my chair out from under me and walk over to the woman. Her red hair is very wavy, long enough to touch her stomach. Her eyes are looking down at something and I can tell they are a bright green. "Hey, I'm Peeta," I look over my shoulder to find Katniss reading a magazine, not paying any attention to us. This makes me frown a bit but than I turn back to the woman, my normal smile taking it's place again.

"Hi," she says shyly, tapping her long nails on the counter. "I'm Eria." Put that on my strange name list. But I really shouldn't be saying anything, my name was Peeta. I was named after bread. Than I remember I was here for a reason, to make Katniss jealous. But how could I do that if she wasn't even sending us a glace.

"Nice name," I give her a wink. "I was wondering if you'd like to maybe go out for dinner sometime?" A smile forms on her lips as she nods her head yes. "Great," I reach over the counter and grab a napkin. "Call me whenever you have time to get together, I know Starbucks can be very busy." She giggles at this. _Katniss better be looking right now or I am seriously going to die._ I look over my shoulder once more to find her actually looking this time, a blank expression on her face. _Shit, what does that mean?_

"I will," says Eria, taking the napkin from my hold. I give her another smile before I walk back to the table Katniss was at. Her eyes shoot back down to the magazine right when I take a seat. If I made Katniss mad I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I can tell her I gave the woman a fake number, or that I wasn't going on the date, I really didn't even set it up.

I lean over to Katniss and pull down her magazine a tiny bit. "It would have been easier kissing you," She laughs. "I actually have to go on a date with her and all I know is that her name is Eria, nice right?"

* * *

"Today was better boys!" Haymitch tells us, clapping his hands together. "Now, all you need to do is practice like this everyday until you leave this school, how does that sound?" I roll my eyes at our coach, I was tired, Haymitch had kept us out here an hour later then usual. The bad part is that I will have to work later at the cafe.

As I'm walking to my car, someone grabs my arm and pulls me towards them. "Mind giving me a ride, Peeta?" it was Glimmer. Her blond hair was longer then I remembered and she was wearing her cheerleading outfit. _Looks like she got on the team even though Finnick and I gave her bad scores. _The word no was about to come out of my mouth before she speaks again. "Come on, I will have to walk!" I can see Katniss behind her, laughing with Annie as they both got in Finnick's car. They all had the shift tonight so it made sense that they all went in the same car.

"Walk." I spit at her, sliding into the drivers seat before hitting the lock button. "I'm tired of hearing you, Glimmer. I don't want to get back together with you, how many times do I have to say it?" A frown takes its place on her lips, her eyes were filling with tears. I should feel good about this, happy she finally knows what it feels like to be hurt. But I feel horrible. I hit the unlock button and hesitate, my eyes falling on her. "Get in."

She can't hide the smile that comes across her face, now I was starting to regret this. I was going to be late for work and I was helping out a girl who broke my heart, and says that she wants it back. "Just drive me home," she says. "You remember where it is don't you, Peeta?" _Of course, there was no telling how many times I had been there. _

"No." I lie. "Where is it?" She gives me the directions, not even noticing how close I am to her house already. She tries to start a conversation but I don't reply to anything she asks or says. I gave her a ride because I felt bad for her, I didn't have to talk to her.

"We are here, you can get out now." She doesn't get out, instead, she sits still and brings up her hand, laying on my leg. I bring up my own and move hers away, leaning over and opening up her door. "Get out." I'm sure she can hear the seriousness in my voice, I wanted her out of my car. She nods her head and sends me a wink before getting out and slamming the door closed.

Once I finally get to work, I get shit from Johanna. "We had to do _your _work, Mellark." she complains, throwing a rag over her shoulder. I see Katniss cleaning a table at the back of the room, a smile is on her face. "Don't think I didn't see Glimmer get in your car, what were you two doing that took," she looks at her watch. "Two damn hours?" I hadn't even realize it took that long, it only felt like a few minutes.

"I took her to her house, Jo," I roll my eyes. "We didn't do anything other than that, she tried to but I wouldn't do it." Cato is watching me and Johanna from behind the bar, just Glimmers name sets him off. A few days after they got together, she went off and slept with some guy she met at a party. One of the reasons I'm glad I'm not with her anymore.

Johanna rolls her eyes at me and walks away so she can finish cleaning up the tables. My eyes shoot back to where Katniss is and I quickly make my way over to her. "You don't think I did anything with Glimmer did you?" I ask.

She laughs. "From what you told me on the roof," she turns towards me, throwing her rag over my shoulder. "You don't like her anymore, you used to, but not anymore." I smile, I really should have kissed Katniss.

* * *

**I needed to post this early because it was on my mind! Rating changed to "M" because they are talking about sex and that leads to...sex! I'm under a tornado warning and I decided to post this** **instead of going to a safe place, I must really love y'all! Oh and one question, should I do Katniss or Peeta next? Review!**


	6. Boyfriend?

**Katniss's POV**

"Glimmer, dear, you need to work on your posture!" yells Effie, making the tall girl stand up straight. All of us other cheerleaders are watching the blonde give our coach noticeable glares. I find my eyes wondering over to the football players every now and again. Peeta is standing beside Haymitch and Finnick, not even dressed in his football gear. "All right ladies, go get a good nights sleep! The Game is tomorrow!"

We all stand up, grateful that we get to go home after hours of this. Today I didn't have to work at the cafe and neither did Peeta or Johanna. Normally, Peeta and I would have to work today. But Mr. Mellark was kind enough to give us today off since we had the game tomorrow and we both needed rest, we hadn't had any in days.

I'm changing into my normal clothes in the locker room when Annie comes up to me, a huge smile covering her face. "Finn just said his first word!" The way she says this puts a smile on my own face. Annie was on the phone at the cafe for days speaking to the small child, in a different accent I might say, trying to get him to speak the word 'Mommy'.

"Did he?" I tried to make my voice sound as exciting as I could, from the look on Annie's face, I had succeeded. The word I would expect Finn to have said was Mommy, since Annie had been saying it to him ever since, I'm sure, he was born.

"Yeah! He said Daddy!" You can see the tiny bit of sadness in her eyes. I got a strange feeling that Finnick was doing the same thing Annie had been, reciting the word until it finally came out of the child's mouth. I held back the urge to laugh because it would only hurt Annie more. Instead of saying anything more, I give her a small smile and make my way to the locker room door.

Right when I make it outside, I'm pulled into the arms of Peeta. I look at him with wide eyes, his arm is wrapped tightly around my waist while his eyes are locked on something in front of him. "Glimmer, this is my girlfriend, Katniss," he removes his arm from around my waist and laces his fingers through my own.

Before I can even have time to process what he has said, his lips are covering mine.

They were warm as they move over mine, making me feel something strange in the pit of my stomach. Something strange, but also something that I like. Suddenly, he pulls back, still holding tightly to my hand as he smiles up at Glimmer. "We have to be going," he says, softly pulling me towards his car. I look over my shoulder at the girl, her cheeks are a bright red with embarrassment, which makes _me_ feel kind of embarrassed that Peeta had just kissed me right in front of her.

When I turn back to Peeta, I see that I'm standing right in front of his jeep. I have this sudden urge to turn around to see if Glimmer's eyes are on me, I knew they were but I needed to make sure. Just as I'm about to look, Peeta grabs my hand, again pulling me somewhere.

He pulls me to the passenger seat of the car, opening the door for me and motioning for me to get inside, which I do without hesitation. He slams the door closed and walks around the car, running a quick hand through his hair. I can see Glimmer's face through the window, you can see the anger in her eyes, they almost look red from all the way over here.

She is pulled from my vision when Peeta slips into the drivers seat. He places his hands on the steering wheel and sits quietly, not even sending me a glance. "I can explain," I look over at him, he has his bottom lip in between his teeth, like he is trying to hold in what he is about to say. I knot my fingers together, nervous to hear his explanation, which I'm not sure why I am nervous, it wouldn't be bad. "Glimmer has been bothering me forever, I got tired of it. So, today she was telling me that she wanted me back for about the thousandth time. I said I didn't like her because I was in a relationship, with you."

I was really confused. Was I dating Peeta? If Glimmer thought we were dating, she would tell everyone and it would spread like a wildfire throughout the school, and maybe even through the cafe. Then the town. I felt my cheeks grow hot when I realized this. _I'm dating Peeta Mellark. _"So...are we dating?" I say this slowly, making sure I heard him right. And It seems like I had from the look on his face.

He rubs the back of his neck, now I knew what he was about to say. _Yes._ "Yes, if you want to, that is." I can hear the nervousness in his voice. What I could do right now is give in to Peeta, go out with him, have every girl at the school hate me, and probably have Glimmer as a enemy. Or I could just as easily jump out of his car and catch a ride with Annie and Finnick. My life would be normal again, except I'd probably lose Peeta...

"I want to." I finally speak, completely avoiding his eyes at the moment. "If it helps you, I will do it." He can't hide the small smile that threatens to come across his lips, the lips I had only kissed minutes ago.

We don't say anymore on the drive to my house, but he does give me a quite shy goodbye when I get out of the car. I've made Peeta Mellark feel shy.

* * *

When I wake up the next morning, I feel fully rested, I had forgotten how good a full nights sleep really was. I didn't really look forward to going to Mr. Abernathy's class, or anyone elses for that matter. I would have to sit through the whole class and just by sitting there, I would get tired. I know now why I have more energy on weekends.

I take a quick shower since they usually make me sleepy for some strange unknown reason. I pull on a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, braiding my hair quickly before slipping out the front door. Johanna picks me up every morning now, too bad she won't be here next year.

But instead of Johanna's car in my driveway this morning, it's Peeta's jeep.

I lift an eyebrow at the silver car and jog over to it. He has his window rolled down and he is looking in the back talking to someone. "Uh, hey," I say, trying to get a glimpse of whoever is in the back. It seems he is startled by my voice because of the sudden jump he does as he turns to face me.

He studies me for a second before his familiar smile takes its place on his lips. "Hey, I came to pick you up today," he says. "I figured that we could skip Haymitch's today..." _It's like he read my mind. _"I have Finn today, I was supposed to take him to my mother but It wouldn't hurt to hang out with him with an hour or two, would it?"

I shake my head and make my way over to the passenger side. Once I'm in, I turn around to look at the boy. Of course his first word was Daddy, he _was _his daddy! I had seen him only a few days ago and I swear he looks more like Finnick today then he ever has. I'm sure Annie was happy about that.

"So, where are we going to go?" I ask, propping my feet on the dash. Peeta's eyes wonder over to me and he gives me a smile, motioning towards the window beside me. I look out to find the park that's right next door to my house, I guess this was the only reason Peeta even picked me up.

He took Finn out of his carrier, the bronze hair of the small boy was everywhere on his head, his small hand had a tight hold on his tiny bottle. I had to smile at this. "Want to hold him?" Peeta is holding him towards me and I have to say, I couldn't turn him down on the offer. I bring the child in my arms, noticing he weighs nothing.

I look up from him and notice that Peeta is leaned up against a tree, working on what looks like last nights assignment. "Didn't finish your homework, Mellark?" He smirks at me, his eyes still glued to the paper in front of him.

"Nope, that's kind of why I came out here," he jokes, sending me a quick wink before stuffing the paper in his backpack. People around me are staring, looking at Finn in my arms and sometimes, even looking at Peeta. Who knows what they were thinking, probably that we were skipping school because we had a child. If only Finnick and Annie were here.

I turn back to the tree and see that Peeta has moved. I start to panic, considering I'm holding a baby that's not mine and I didn't have a car of my own yet. Right when I'm about to start walking, Peeta grabs my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. I let out a sigh of relief and give him a small smile. "You didn't actually think I left, did you?"

I shake my head at him, letting him pull me to the ground and take a seat on the grass. He gives me an unconvinced glace. "Okay...well maybe I thought you left," I allow, watching the small boy in my arms stare up at me, giving me a toothless grin. "So, have you gotten any calls from Glimmer since we last spoke?"

Peeta turns towards me, offering me a small shrug of the shoulders. "Not really," I nod. "She sent me a few messages saying she hopes I'm happy and that I will never meet anyone else like her. I didn't text her back though, I had nothing to say and if I did text back, she'd think she could text me whenever she wanted to."

* * *

After a few hours of playing with Finn, we took him to Peeta's mother. She was sending me a few glaces as I sat in his car but I ignored her, pretending I didn't hear her ask why he had a girl she had never met before in his car that _she _bought him. From what I saw of her last time, she seemed quite nice. But to be truthful, if I had to watch a baby on my only day off, I'd be pretty angry too. "Why is she in your car! Really P-" She stands silent for a moment then screams. "Wait! Is that Katniss?"

I turn towards her at the sound of my name, putting a fake smile on my face. She is running over to Peeta's car, her feet stuffed into really fluffy slippers and her robe wrapped tightly around her. "Hey Mrs. Mellark,"

"Hello, dear," she smiles. "Aren't you and Peeta a tad late for school?" I look at the clock in front of me and see that the game only starts in six hours, which means, we only have two left of school. When Peeta hears this come out of her mouth, he is running towards the car, just like his mother earlier, and slipping inside.

"Are you coming to the game tonight?" he asks his mom, a small look of hope is covering his features. She slightly frowns, giving him an unconvincing nod. He tries to smile at her, but all it turns into is a frown, just like his mother is wearing.

And just then, the car started moving. Peeta's mother was waving us a goodbye from where she stands and Peeta just focus on the road, not bothering to return it. He is silent for what feels like forever, his eyes locked on the road, like he is thinking about something. It isn't until we are just about to turn into the school that he actually does speak. "She never comes to my games," he says. "She never has time for it, or anything else for that matter. All she does is work."

I find a light frown coming across my face at his words, it would hurt so bad if my parents never had time for me, my mother barley has any since she became a nurse, but at least she tries to make time. Peeta's mother is sitting home watching Finnick and Annie's child while her own is wanting her to send him at least a small bit of attention.

When we pull into the parking lot at school, the first person I see is Glimmer walking over to Peeta and I. She has a group of friends following behind her, their faces reading confusion. I hop out of the car and before my feet can even touch the ground, Peeta's arm is wrapped tightly around my waist. Maybe I didn't like this idea.

"Hey guys," he says slowly, watching Glimmer carefully without giving the others a glace. They all wave back at him and send me a few waves. The look on Glimmers face tells me she didn't like that very much.

"Where were you two?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

I lift an eyebrow at her, why did she care where we were. "Why?" I ask, staring up at Peeta. Maybe not seeing her face would make me feel better and maybe I wouldn't blow up on her.

She lets out an evil laugh, biting her bottom lip. "Because Madge and Gale just broke up," she laughs again. "Because Gale has a crush on your girlfriend Peeta. Did you know about it, Katniss?"

My heart stops.

Gale had a crush on _me_.

* * *

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the Reviews, Alerts and Favorites, they mean a ton! It has been forever since I have updated and I am super sorry! I have been really busy and plus I'm sick! That is why this chapter is so short. But don't worry, I think next chapter might be a lot longer! Review? **


	7. The Begging and End of Something New

**Peeta's POV**

At football practice I can barley concentrate. Gale is across the field, the cockiest grin on his face that I have ever seen, it makes me even madder at him, if that's even possible. The game was in three hours, I couldn't let some guy mess this up for the team. I couldn't play bad because Gale had a crush on Katniss, I mean, we weren't dating, he was free to like her. Although, I didn't really like the thought.

As I'm staring at Gale, I notice everyone turn towards me, that's when I zone back into reality. "Peeta!" My name is yelled throughout the field. The voice who calls it is very unfamiliar, this gets me to turn around right away. Standing mere inches in front of me is Eria from the coffee shop, her red hair is up in a high pony tail and from the corner of my eye, I can see Katniss watching the two of us.

The smile on her face is huge, its like over the past few days, she has gained a ton of courage to talk to me. "Uh, hey Eria," I can feel nearby eyes burning holes through me, why did everyone on the football team always feel the need to stare? "What are you doing here?" I try to say that as kind as possible, considering its a very hard question to ask nicely. For me that is, growing up with two brothers means saying things a lot more unkindly, if that's a word.

From the way her smile grows wider, I can tell that the way I said it didn't effect her. Great. "I came to surprise you, I didn't want to call, I figured that it would be better to talk to you about a date in person," Her green eyes twinkle in excitement. "Oh, and that now I'm going to this school now, I figured that we could hang out a lot more and that you could maybe give me a tour of the school tomorrow?"

I hear chuckles from behind me. "Sure, tomorrow," I try to speak as fast as I can, I didn't have time to talk to her right now. "Uh, Hey, Can you go maybe wait on the bleachers for awhile? I need to practice, the game is only in a few hours." I point towards the large stands where already a few parents and students sit, getting an early seat for the big game. She looks over her shoulder at them, her smile slightly fading but she quickly regains it, offering me a nod before jogging over.

I rub my temple. How in the world did she find where I go to school? I'm about to turn back to the team again before, again, my name cuts through the field. "Mellark, over here, now." My coach's voice doesn't sound happy._ Damn._ I run over to him, everyone's eyes on me once again. He has his usual flask in hand, his football schedule in the other. "Boy, who was that girl that interrupted my practice?"

I shrug my shoulders, very unaware of who Eria really was. I look over at her, she has her hands under her bottom, probably protecting her skirt from the water that covers the bleachers. I knew nothing about this girl and she went out to try and find me, I don't know if I should be flattered right now or frightened. "I met her at a coffee shop, Sir." I gesture towards Eria, making it known to everyone that I was talking about her. "I talked to her once, gave her my number and told her to call me sometime. It was just Katniss and I playing around, I didn't know she'd actually try to find me."

Haymitch lets out a chuckle. "Girls will do anything to get a handsome man, Mellark," he says. Did he just call me handsome? "That is why you shouldn't lead them on, even with Miss. Everdeen's help. I'm going to need you to tell her the truth, whether its tonight or tomorrow, it has to be either of those days, I need you to do it." I nod. "Now go get Katniss for me, you two need to go pick up something for the game and I don't trust you getting it alone."

I roll my eyes at him and make my way over to Katniss. She is doing some stretches, her back turned towards me. I carefully tap her shoulder, getting a jump from her. "You scared the hell out of me!" She screams, kicking some grass at me. All the girls around us are laughing loudly. "What do you need?"

"Haymitch told me to come get you, he needs me to go get something for him at some sports store, he said he didn't trust me going alone," She smiles at this. "So, wanna break from cheerleading?" She doesn't hesitate telling Effie that she will be back later. The now green haired woman, smiles at me, winking at Katniss and mouthing 'he's hot' to her. A weird chill goes through my body as I watch the two of them talk. I look over my shoulder, trying to get what Effie said out of my mind when I see Eria waving me over.

I roll my eyes and quickly run over to her. "Hey, Coach told me I needed to go get something at a sports store for him," She nods, waiting for me to continue. "He told me to bring Katniss with me because he didn't trust me going alone, I will be back in a little while, okay?"

Hurt washes over her face, making my insides ache. It would always make me feel bad whenever I hurt someone. It made me wish I was like Glimmer and that I could hurt someone without giving a care how they felt, life would be so much better if it were like that. "All right, I'll be here," she says softly, a sad smile taking over her earlier excited one.

I give her a small smile since I feel like its needed. "I will be back soon, I promise," She nods and I go back to get Katniss, only to find her with her hands on her hips, smirking at the two of us. I roll my eyes and playfully push her towards the parking lot. She laughs loudly, facing me with a smile.

"What did Foxface say?"

"That we need to get a move on and that she doesn't like you very much," I wink at her. "And Foxface? What a kind name Katniss, I'm sure she will love it."

Getting into my car, I can already hear Haymitch yelling at the team about something. Katniss slips inside with me, laying her elbow on the door and her head in her hand. "Thanks for getting me out of there," she says. "Cheerleading isn't very fun, well, I guess it isn't fun for me." I chuckle, I always knew Katniss wasn't the cheerleading type.

"Why did you try out, then?"

She shrugs her shoulders, making me laugh. "I thought it would give me something to do after school," She looks over at me, bringing her bottom lip between her teeth. "Since I can't hunt. Maybe I will take you up on doing that class with Gale, what do you think?" I shift uncomfortably in my chair, my grip now very tight on the steering wheel.

We don't speak anymore on the way to the sports store, but its not an awkward silence like I might have expected. Katniss taps her fingers against the dash board, her eyes wondering out the window, her legs crossed underneath her. I mean, it isn't _complete _silence with the radio playing a low beat and Katniss tapping her fingers along.

I lean over and turn down the radio a bit, opening my mouth to speak. "So, about Gale," She turns towards me, a slight frown playing on her lips at the mention of his name from me. "If he happened to ask you out, what would you say?" I try my hardest not to look at her, I didn't want her thinking that I really wanted to know, needed to know.

"I..I would say no, because I have feelings for someone else," I bite my tongue, hard. I had no clue why I was doing any of this. Why would it matter that she liked someone else, she isn't mine. But I wanted her to be mine...What was going on with me?

I rub the back of my neck, feeling her eyes on me. "Who?"

She hesitates, her eyes staring down at her hands that are balled up in her lap. The car is burning up, I feel as if the sun is sitting right next to me, I can barley take this heat. "You." she says. I look over at her quickly, not remembering what we were talking about moments ago. Then, it hits me.

Katniss has feelings for...me.

I slowly get off of the road, parking at a near by closed restaurant. I sit for a moment, trying to process this new found information through my mind, I never thought I would hear those words come out of Katniss Everdeens mouth. Then, I lean over, pressing my lips to hers, like I had done only yesterday.

Surprised, Katniss doesn't kiss me back at first, which worries me for only a little while because before I know it, she _is_ kissing me back. I open my eyes a small bit to get a glimpse of her closed ones, she is leaned over, trying to get closer to me.

Before I can even think about it, I'm pulling her into my lap. She giggles as I do so, bringing a smile to my face, I've never heard her giggle before. She quickly brings her lips back to mine and I love how they feel against mine. Unlike Glimmers, they weren't covered in lip gloss, Katniss barley wore any and today, she chose to wear none.

My arm is wrapped tightly around her waist as we continue to kiss. Her lips are soft as they move against mine, just as they were yesterday, only Glimmer was watching and that had to be cut short.

We kiss for a while until Katniss hits the steering wheel, causing the loud honk of the horn go through the air. We both break apart, both panting loudly, refusing to look at one another. She looks at where she is on top of me, her face growing a deep red color. "What did we just do?" She asks softly.

"I think we just kissed," I tell her with a smile.

* * *

"Coach!" I yell, running over to Haymitch across the field. He turns around, a smirk on his face when he sees me. Once I reach him, I lift my shoulders in a shrug. "The man at the sports store said he didn't have anything for you, did I go to the wrong one?"

Haymitch laughs loudly, shaking his head. "No, son," he says. "You needed to think some things through, I could see it in your eyes, might want to tell that girl that has been waiting more than an hour for you here that you have feelings for someone else." I look out at the bleachers to find Eria with a huge smile on her face, waving at me.

Then I turn towards Katniss who is watching me with a smile by the cheerleaders. We had kissed each other a few more times after what happened, they weren't big kisses, but each one made me like her even more. "Can I do it later coach? I don't want to play bad because I feel horrible for hurting Eria's feelings."

He gives me a quick nod and tells me to go change for the game.

Right when I walk inside the locker room, Gale and Finnick are beside me. "Dude, why the hell were you out with Katniss?" Finnick asks, sending glaces to Gale every few seconds. I shake my head at him, opening up my locker. "Peeta, seriously, tell me."

"Coach told me to go out with her, okay?" I tell him and I can hear let out a loud sigh beside me, making me very angry for thinking it was nothing. "We did kiss though." I say this without thinking and before I know it, Gale has his hand in a fist, connecting it with the side of my jaw and sending me to the ground.

"Holy Shit!" yells Finnick, pushing Gale away from me. "Back away, Gale!"

I stand up off the ground and move out in front of Finnick, my hand glued to my jaw. "Naw, Finn it's fine," I say waving him off. "If Gale wants to start something he can, just not with me." I ball my hand, punching Gale on the side of the face, the exact place he did me.

The whole locker room was now crowded around the two of us, cheering for a fight. I knew Haymitch was going to come in soon, I also knew that meant that I could get suspended from the game, but right now, I didn't care. This game didn't mean anything for me, it meant everything for Gale though. Today scouts from tons of different colleges were coming.

"No! I'm stopping this!" says Finnick, pulling me back. "You two were friends, you can't let a girl change that! Maybe both of you need to stay away from Katniss. It would be better that way!"

Gale shakes his head, slamming an opened locker shut with all he had. I knew what this means, that I would have to stay away from Katniss from now on.

* * *

**Hello Everyone! I love, love, love all of the Reviews! They make me so happy! I'd like to thank all of you who Reviewed, Alerted and Favorited! Means so much to me! A shout out to Cloveycat! **

**A lot happened in this chapter, I had horrible writers block. And a little help, what should I do for next chapter? Review!**

**Until Next Time! Goodnight! **


	8. The Game

**Peeta's POV**

I throw my shoulder pads over me as I hear the cheers of the crowd outside, the whole team stopping what they are doing to get a peek of the screaming people. Gale sits in the back of the locker room with his jersey on backwards, his hand running through his hair every few seconds. He was my best friend, I wasn't in love with Katniss yet, which meant I could live without her. I wasn't going to let my best friend hate me, Finnick was right.

I hear a loud vibrating sound coming from my locker. I open it up seeing the light of my phone blinking a bright red color, the name _Xavier _popping up in huge bold black letters. This is just want I needed right now... "Hello?" I say, trying to slide on a shoe with my only free hand. At the sound of my voice everyone turns towards me. I send them all a wave and they all turn around, whispering things to each other, sending me glaces over their shoulders.

"Hey, your little girlfriend is driving me mad," He practically yells into the phone, trying to talk over all of the screaming people. I can hear a couple behind him talking about their son, Gloss, playing in the game tonight. I look around the room and soon find the blonde hair boy, much younger than me, putting in a mouth guard.

"What girlfriend? Katniss?" The locker room was getting louder, thank goodness. I didn't need everyone hearing our conversation, I bet half the people beside me only heard the words girlfriend and Katniss. I would soon hear rumors about us and that was the last thing I needed.

"No, the red haired chick," He says with a sigh. "But never mind that, what about Katniss? You two are dating? Since when?" I roll my eyes at the wall, wishing that he could see me right now. He would find out about all of this soon enough, no need to tell him. I stare down at my phone, pressing down on the shinning red button. _End. _

I throw my phone back in my locker, the sound of metal hitting metal turns a few new heads towards me, their eyes staring daggers at me from behind. Gloss hasn't turned towards me once today, I've never talked to him before, he hung out with his sister most of the time. I had seen him talk to Katniss in a few of the classes he shares with us, he made her laugh. I shake the thought out of my mind and continue with putting everything on.

Soon I hear the music playing. Haymitch had set up this sound track to where when the cheerleaders did their cheer, a song would be playing for them. Today it sounded like Justin Bieber, I guess Haymitch caught on to all the girls loving him, smart guy. Finnick was laughing as his voice started coming through the opened door while all of the other guys were screaming for someone to shut it. I am shaking my head with a smile, this was quite entertaining.

When it stopped, everyone started applauding, including Finnick. "Gosh, that kid can sing but I can't stand his music," says Finnick, taking a seat beside me on the bench. "I got to pick out the song that Coach plays when we go out." He states this proudly, a huge smile on his face.

"Oh? What did you pick?" I ask, pretending to be interested.

He notices this and rolls his eyes at me, continuing to talk. "'Till I Collapse," I stare at him, not knowing what the song was. I barely listened to any music, only did I turn on the radio when Katniss was in the car. Gosh, I needed to get her out of my head. "Never heard it?" I shake my head. "Annie bought it on her iPod or something, I liked it so I asked Coach to play it."

I nod. "Sounds like a good song to play during a football game," I tell him this honestly. There has been many times where Coach has told us to keep playing unless we have broken something or passed out, the song sounded perfect. Finnick actually might have picked something good for a change. "Might want to go tell Gale he has his jersey on backwards."

Finnick's eyes fade from me, locking on Gale across the room. He is talking to someone, his hair a mess from all of the times he has run a hand through it, and his jersey number on his chest instead of his back. Finnick laughs at this, he lifts his hand, waving our friend over. Gale hesitates for a moment when he sees me but gives in, pushing through people to get to us. A few people he runs into watch him come over to us, thinking there is going to be another fight from the smiles on their faces. "What?" asks Gale when he is right in front of Finnick, not even sending me a glace.

"You have your jersey on backwards man," Finnick says this with a smile, trying his hardest not to laugh. Gale looks down, his mouth dropping open at the sight. He quickly pulls it off of him, turning it the right way, his eyes slightly looking me over, hoping for a mistake he could point out. "And you and Peeta need to forgive each other."

Gale sighs. "Why should I forgive him for kissing the girl I like?" He snaps at Finnick, his finger pointed towards me. "I know Peeta knew I liked her, Glimmer told him, I saw her do it in the parking lot." My eyes widen when he says this, he was watching Katniss? What else has he seen us do, or more importantly, her do?

"Wait, you've been spying on, Katniss?" His eyes land on me, they show me that I shouldn't have spoken. But I didn't care, spying on a girl that barley knew him was beyond crazy. Right now, I didn't care if I lost Gale's friendship, Katniss was mine, he couldn't just watch her. He didn't have my permission to look at _my girl._

"Maybe I have, why would you care, Mellark?" He fires back. "Didn't you just kiss her to shit with me? To make me angry? She is nothing to you and you know it. She is just someone that might help you get over Glimmer, just some fuck for you, Peeta." My hands were balling in fists. Finnick was staring down at them, his eyes growing wide at the sight.

"Okay, now just shut up, Gale," He finally speaks, pushing me aside. "Peeta didn't just kiss Katniss because you like her and you know that. You were best friends, Peeta wouldn't do that." Gale's eyes softened a bit as he looked at Finnick. But right when he looked at me again, they hardened.

He parts his lips to speak when another voice takes over instead. "Okay boys, are you all ready?" Our Coach's voice is soft, a hint of nervousness mixed in with it. The whole room screams out a loud, "Yeah!" Haymitch smiles, taking a near by boys helmet in his arms. "You can do this. We didn't practice all damn week for us to fail, did we?" Everyone shakes their heads. "All right, now lets go win a game!"

I quickly slip in my mouth guard before putting my helmet over my head. Everyone is piling out of the room and Finnick pulls me along with him, excited to hear his song being played.

* * *

Right when I get outside I spot Katniss beside the bench, talking to our coach with a smile. I now wanted to sit out for the whole game. I look to my left to find Gale's eyes on the same thing as mine were just a few seconds ago, the anger I felt for him at this moment made me sick to my stomach. Why did I get this angry just by him looking at Katniss?

An older man's voice blasts through the speakers, calling out the name of the team we are facing, which I had no clue who that was until he told us all. They bust through their banner, the crowd on the stands beside us are booing and yelling rude things about the team. Finnick applauds them beside me, yelling 'I love you's' to the girls that are waving at him. They all scream his number and mine for some odd reason.

Katniss hears my number somewhere in the stand because she turns to face them, a smile on her face. Haymitch says something to her that makes her blush. Finally, the older man calls out our team. Everyone in the crowd turns towards us, their screams so loud that they are starting to hurt my ears. Number 5 is yelled through the field, making me feel nervous.

Finnick and I were the last ones to run out, making it even more noticeable that people were calling for us, all because of Finnick's flirting. Haymitch meets up with us all when we are out there, picking out people to sit on the bench, and I'm not going to lie, I was crossing my fingers that one of them would be me. Only, my name isn't called. But Gale's is.

He has a slight smirk on his face as he runs over to the bench. "Now, guys get in place!" he yells. I let out a sigh as I do so, sending Katniss a quick glace. She is smiling, not paying Gale any attention. When I turn from her I am face to face with a player from the other team and I notice it is Marvel, the guy Glimmer cheated on Cato with. I look to my side and see Cato looking at him, a grin on his face.

I close my eyes until I hear its time to start playing.

* * *

**Katniss' POV**

"Hey Katniss," I look away from Peeta for the person that had just called my name. When I'm just about to dismiss it, Gale waves a hand at me. "Hey, you know when I first met you what I thought your name was?" I stand there for a minute, trying to think why I would even care what he _thought _my name was. Instead I just shake my head, to tired to even bother saying anything to him. "Catnip." He laughs. "I actually thought that was your name."

I lift an eyebrow at him, not finding that even the smallest bit of funny. Annie is laughing beside me, shaking her head at Gale. "Really?" I question, seeing what he will say next. "You actually thought my name was, Catnip? Who would name their kid that?" I decide to act as if this was a horrible thing, to make him maybe stop talking to me.

"Uh.." He brings his bottom lip in between his teeth and turns his attention back to the field. I smile to myself and go back to watching Peeta play. I can still hear a few people behind me calling his number out to him, hoping that they will notice him. It makes me happy that, if we were to be dating, he would be mine. But a few kisses didn't mean a thing, in boy world that is.

The game went on for hours, Gale finally got called to come out to the field. Finnick was now on the bench, flirting with me every now and again but mostly talking with Annie. Peeta hadn't got put on the bench yet, which frightened me that he might pass out He looked fine, but that meant nothing since there was a helmet covering his face.

"Hey Katniss, Peeta is fine, quit worrying," says Finnick, giving me a small poke on the shoulder. "He has played a full game before, he'll be fine. I'd be more worried about him and Gale both on the field."

I look up at the timer, noticing that there is only a few seconds left in the game and that we were down only a few points, making me bite down on my tongue. I was beyond nervous for the team, especially Peeta. They had worked so hard to win this, the other team probably had too, but I really wanted us to win. Down to the last twelve seconds, I had to look away, along with Annie doing the same. I watched the faces of the crowd. Their mouths are dropped open, this game has them hanging on every move, no one notices us staring at them.

Then one person stands up in the bleachers, throwing their hand up in the air and screaming. Soon, everyone else follows. I turn around and see the team huddled together with Haymitch in the middle, smiles on all of their faces. Annie pulls me into a hug, taking my breath away. Finnick isn't on the bench anymore, which means he went to join the huddle.

Effie comes up to me with a huge smile on her face, a list in hand. "Katniss, you and Annie need to go change, I overheard from a little girl named Rue in the stands that her brother, Thresh, was having a party tonight. Might want to get to the party before everyone else does." she informs us.

Annie and I exchange a look before jogging towards the locker room. I wasn't going to get dressy for the party, after all, it was just a _party_. I pull a normal red shirt and jeans out of my locker, quickly throwing them on before checking my cell phone. Johanna had texted me, the letters in the message were in all caps.

_We won! Tell Peeta, Finnick and Gale I say Congrats! _

I smile a little at this. Johanna seemed to be clueless to what happened between Gale and I. She wasn't at the game tonight because she offered to work, Mr. Mellark barley had anyone to work tonight. Jo only did it because she got extra pay.

_Will do. Are you coming to Thresh's party tonight? _

I hit send, stuffing my phone in my purse before putting my now folded uniform on top. Thank Goodness Effie told us to get dressed early because right when Annie and I got outside, every cheerleader was rushing inside the locker room, probably just hearing about the party. Annie didn't bother waiting on Finnick to come outside before we left, she said he would just catch a ride with Peeta or someone. Now I started feeling like I should wait for Peeta, but instead, I get in the car with Annie.

She tells me about her son, how she went to the mall yesterday to buy him tons of clothes, only to leave with nothing in her arms but stuffed animals. "They were the cutest things ever, Katniss, I had to get him all of them!" She says with a frown. "Finnick wasn't too happy about it since I had told him I was going to buy clothes and I didn't even have one shirt!"

I laugh at this. Baby Finn was already spoiled as it is, he had about a thousand teddy bears just on his bed, more in his closet. We drive silently the rest of the way, it would be so much better if I had waited for Peeta. When she pulls up in Thresh's drive, we can see that a few people are already here, a few waiting at his front door with beer in their arms. The dark skinned man answers the door, a excited smile on his face.

"Thresh is one of Peeta's best friends, that is like the only reason we get to come tonight," Annie explains. "So don't give him a reason to kick us out. Finnick always tells me that."

Annie has to call Finnick so I decide to go by myself to meet Thresh. I knock a few times, hearing people talking loudly inside, before hearing footsteps heading towards the door. The same man answers the door, his smile is confused as he looks at me. "Hey, uh, have we met before?" He asks nicely, his smile coming back.

I laugh. "No I'm Katniss, my friend Annie is in the car, you know Peeta, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, the question is, do _you_ know Peeta?" He says. He looks me over one more time, this time, squinting his eyes. "Wait, you are the girl he went in the locker room with the other day, aren't you?" He smirks, holding out a hand into his home, a little girl is watching us from behind the wall, disappering when she notices I see her. "Come on in, Peeta's love interest."

I smile awkwardly, not knowing how to reply to that. Once I step inside, I see how beautiful his house is, how huge it is. There are a few people chatting in the living room, they don't even know I'm here from the looks of it. "Uh, where is your bathroom?" I ask him over my shoulder, to busy looking at the photos on his wall to turn towards him.

"Just around the corner," I nod my head, staring down at the polished floor as I make my way there. More photos cover his walls, most of them are of him and his sister, while others are of his parents I'm assuming. I find the bathroom and open the closed door, stepping inside. I'm greeted by bright orange walls and a huge bath.

I stare at myself in the mirror. My hair is down, falling in layers over my shoulders. My top is hanging tightly to my body, my pants doing the same. No wonder Thresh let me into his house, I didn't look at all like my usual self. I realize my purse is still over my shoulder. I reach over and dig inside, pulling out my cell phone, seeing that I had two unread messages.

The first one was from Johanna.

_Yeah, I'm coming tonight, wbu?_

The next one was from Peeta.

_Hey. Where are you? I was looking for you after the game but couldn't find you. I think we need to talk._

I send Johanna a text that says already here while I send Peeta one telling him I'm at Thresh's house. I look at myself one last time and sigh, turning the doorknob. Right when I open it, I hear the voices of many different people. I peek out the door, seeing many people talking to one another, holding cans of beer in their hands.

As I'm stepping out the door, I run into someone. I take a step back and see Gale, he's staring down at his shirt, beer running down it. I suddenly feel horrible, I should really watch where I'm going. "Can you watch whe-" He starts to yell but stops when he looks down at me, a nervous smile washing over. "Hey."

"Hi." I move past him quickly, ready to get out of here. People are everywhere, blocking the front door. I see that the back door is opened, the lights of the porch shows you that it is night time. I push through a few people and walk into the night air, the wind giving me goosebumps. I see a lake behind his house and decide to walk over to it.

I hear the grasshoppers that are somewhere in the grass around me, their chirps making me suddenly calm. I slip off my flip flop and sink my foot in the warm water. It feels great. "Hey," I look behind me to find Peeta. He moves over to sit beside me, sliding off his own shoes. "How long have you been here?"

I shrug, "I few minutes, the house filled up fast," I say.

He nods. "Hey, you wanna go for a swim?" Before I can even answer he has his shirt over his head, throwing it on the ground beside me. I had never seen Peeta shirtless, and I realized why every girl in school wanted him. He had perfect abs, just like one of those people you see in magazines.

"I don't have a suit," I say.

"So? Bra and panties are the same thing, Katniss," He pulls his pants down. "Come on, it'll be fun. What do you say?" I hesitate for a moment before finally giving in. I slide my pants off first, since he was still watching me. When he turns around, jumping into the water, I slip off my shirt, crossing my arms over my chest. I had never undressed in front of a guy.

Peeta comes up for air, running a hand through his hair before looking over at me, his usual smile appearing. "Coming in?" he yells over to me. I don't jump in like Peeta, instead, I slowly walk in, trying to get used to the water which was a lot colder on my body than my foot. Peeta chuckles to himself, swimming over to me. "Katniss, I said for a swim. That means swimming." I bite my bottom lip and before I can even react, he has me over his shoulder, carrying me to the deep end.

"Peeta!" I shout. "Put me down!"

I can hear the smile in his voice when he speaks again, "All right," Instead of landing on the grass like I was hoping for, I fall into the water, my whole body now freezing cold. I come up for air, wiping the water out of my eyes. Peeta is beside me laughing. "You didn't scream like I expected."

I roll my eyes, "I should have screamed, maybe some would come and save me from you," I start to walk to get out but Peeta pulls me back from behind, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. "Peeta...let me out." I turn my head to find him staring at me, his smile gone. I turn my body completely around to face him, feeling that was the right thing to do right about now.

He studies me for a minute, his eyes constantly flashing down to my lips. I slowly lean in, unsure if he wanted to kiss me or not. As soon as my eyes are closed, he presses his lips to mine. They taste like the lake, making me pull back a bit but soon the taste goes away, fading into what tastes like mint. But I can't really focus on his lips with his hand resting only a few inches above my bottom, pulling me closer.

Suddenly, he pulls away, too soon for my liking. He smiles at me, lacing his fingers with my own under the water. "Is it okay if I take you somewhere?"

* * *

**I want to send a huge thank you to those of you who told me what I should do for this chapter, I was going to do it but then this came to mind and I thought you all might like it more? Thanks to those who Reviewed, Alerted and Favorited, it means a lot to me! **

**I decided to give you this chapter early and maybe write another one this week also because on July 7th I am going to Florida for a week with my family and a friend, which means I won't be updating. So I am trying to spoil you all before then, how does that sound?**

**Anyway, how did you like this chapter? Review?**

**Until Next Time! Goodnight!**


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